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Learning theory provides a powerful framework for analyzing instructional consultations and increasing their effectiveness. In this paper, the authors review the main tenets of learning theory, apply them to consultation scenarios, and present a complex case study to show how they can guide analysis and problem solving around challenging consultations.

Faculty Member #1 I came to the university excited about the prospect of working with a cohort of young colleagues who had impressed me when I interviewed. I liked the department head very much. He not only recruited me enthusiastically, but he was incredibly supportive. He was fair in distributing resources and made sure that junior faculty got high-quality graduate students. He provided a clear assessment of my progress each year prior to tenure and set a tone indicating that it was normal for junior faculty to seek help and mentoring. But the year I was granted tenure a new head entered the picture and life changed drastically. He rapidly alienated several senior colleagues I admired as well as some of my junior colleagues, many of whom ended up leaving the department. The new head played favorites, ignored established processes, and didn't support the promotion of several outstanding young faculty hired under the former head. He also reneged on several promises that the former head had made to me. It's been years since he became the department head, but I am still disillusioned and disappointed. I find myself advising newly hired colleagues to build their CVs and keep an eye open for other jobs; I tell them "outstanding work does not assure success in this department." Faculty Member #2 When I first came to the university, one of the things that gave me the most satisfaction was working closely with two of my senior colleagues: Ed and Jon. I truly valued their collaboration on grants, research, and publications, and had always believed that we worked well together and respected one another. That's why I was so taken aback, on the eve of my tenure decision, to learn from others in the department that Ed and Jon had voiced concerns to the tenure committee about my performance. Neither Ed nor Jon had ever shared these concerns with me, and I felt disconcerted and hurt. Although I eventually did receive tenure, the experience left a bad taste in my mouth. Now, when I hear Ed and Jon speak in faculty meetings, I wonder what their words are hiding. I see the glances they exchange when I'm speaking, and I resent their implication. Because I find it uncomfortable to be with these two colleagues, I avoid them whenever possible. I have extricated myself from joint research ventures and purposely avoid Ed and Jon in other venues of departmental life. Introduction: What Our Research Revealed What do the two stories above have in common? First, they portray senior (defined in this study as tenured) faculty members who are dissatisfied with their respective experiences at their institution. Second, in both cases, negative or disillusioning experiences at key times in their professional lives have colored the lens through which these individuals view their colleagues and experience life in their departments. They have responded to these events in ways that are counter to fostering collegiality and a sense of community--two primary sources of satisfaction in academic life (Barnes, Agago, & Coombs, 1998; Manger & Eikeland, 1990; Matier, 1990; Weiler, 1985). Although dissatisfied senior faculty members are hardly rare in academia (Amey & VanDerLinden, 2002; Boice, 1993; Hamrick, 2003; Karpiak, 1997; Mills, 2000), what is interesting about these particular stories is that they describe faculty who are not stagnant professionally but who continue to be remarkably productive: They publish extensively, secure prestigious grants, and succeed in a variety of other areas, as described below. In other words, these senior faculty members are at the top of their game. Nevertheless, they remain withdrawn in important ways at their own university, a problem we believe is not unique to this institution. What characterizes the experiences of faculty such as these, and what is the impact on their institutions? To what extent does the literature help us to understand the sources of their dissatisfaction and their responses to it? …

Drawing on narrative theory, we propose a scenario-based approach to conducting discussions among junior and senior faculty about issues affecting job satisfaction. This study reports how discussions of fictional scenarios (based on data drawn from 123 faculty interviews) prompt open dialogue, foster greater consciousness, empathy, and empowerment among faculty, and guide positive institutional responses.

Universities attempt to hire the highest quality faculty they can, but they are not always successful at retaining them. Furthermore, some faculty members who do remain may not function as engaging colleagues who make others want to stay. This study investigates why some faculty members leave and why others stay by illuminating the complexities of individual experiences. Using semi-structured interviews rather than surveys, a matched cohort of 123 faculty members (half current and half former) from one institution was interviewed. Although some of their primary reasons for satisfaction or dissatisfaction (e.g., collegiality, mentoring) were predicted by general survey research, there were also unforeseeable issues that strongly influenced satisfaction and decisions to stay or leave, demonstrating the importance of institution-specific research. This paper provides a method for collecting institution-specific information as well as several arguments for conducting interviews instead of pre-defined surveys.

The key objectives and targets of the Learning and Skills Council's (LSC, 2001) corporate plan concerned with increasing participation in education, enhancing workforce training, and raising the ac...

Working under the guidance of your tutors, you will: examine detailed examples of the main types of assignments introduced in Unit 4 which you will meet on your course; work through the assignments to develop your knowledge and skills.

In this unit, you will: find out the sources of help and information; be given an idea of how to use the help that is available to you.

In this unit, you will: find out about BTEC and BTEC qualifications; identify what is distinctive about BTEC Business and Finance programmes, and the reasons for taking them rather than other programmes.

Carbamylcholine-stimulated catecholamine release from adrenal chromaffin cells was completely inhibited by pretreatment of the cells for 10 min with 1 μM calmidazolium. Catecholamine release due to 55 mM K+ and ionophore A23187 was also inhibited by calmidazolium but less effectively than release due to carbamylcholine. Inhibition of release appeared to be due to an effect of calmidazolium on a step distal to Ca2+ entry, since the carbamylcholine-stimulated rise in the concentration of intracellular free calcium, monitored using quin-2, was unaffected by calmidazolium. The possibility was considered that calmidazolium inhibited secretion through an effect on protein kinase C rather than calmodulin. However, the phorbol ester, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA), had no demonstrable effect on catecholamine release, arguing against a significant role for protein kinase C in secretion from adrenal chromaffin cells. These results give further support to the notion that calmodulin plays a role in the secretory process in chromaffin cells.

We have examined bovine adrenal chromaffin cells in culture for the presence of the microtubule-associated protein 2. Chromaffin cells could be identified in culture on the basis of their staining with antibodies directed against secretory granule proteins. Using immunoperoxidase staining microtubule-associated protein 2 immunoreactivity was demonstrated to be present in chromaffin cells but not fibroblasts in culture. Microtubule-associated protein 2 immunoreactivity was present in the cell body, processes and varicosities of the chromaffin cells. Microtubule-associated protein 2 polypeptides were shown to be present in an adrenal medullary homogenate but not chromaffin granule membranes by immunoblotting. The results indicate that the neuronal cytoskeletal polypeptide microtubule-associated protein 2 is present in adrenal chromaffin cells. The presence of microtubule-associated protein 2 in both neurons and chromaffin cells may be related to their common embryonic origin.

The expression of the microtubule-associated protein MAP1A and the synaptic vesicle protein p65 by rat cerebellar granule cells developing in vivo and in vitro was examined. MAP1A in common with a series of previously described cytoskeletal proteins was present in immature parallel fibres and began to disappear from parallel fibres around P15. From the earliest age (P6) at which the molecular layer could be identified parallel fibres throughout the molecular layer expressed p65 with no evidence of any gradient of expression from young to mature axons. Granule cells in culture did not express p65 until later than 1 day in vitro. By 7 days in vitro numerous p65 containing varicosities were present on granule cell processes though MAP1A was still expressed. The results show that transport of synaptic vesicles and formation of varicosities is an early event in granule cell differentiation and precedes a major reorganisation of the axonal cytoskeleton.

The tyrosine kinase substrate p36 (calpactin heavy chain) is a calcium-dependent membrane- and cytoskeletal-binding protein. Using an affinity-purified antiserum raised against the p36 heavy chain from bovine adrenal medulla, we have examined the cellular distribution of p36 in developing and adult cerebellum. From immunoblotting, the level of p36 in cerebellum was found to decline during development. In dissociated cell cultures of P4 cerebellum, all cell types were labeled by anti-p36. In vibratome sections from cerebella of P10 rats, anti-p36 stained Purkinje cell bodies strongly and all other cell types less strongly, with the exception of cells in the external germinal layer, which were unstained. By 18 days postnatally p36 was present at higher levels in Bergmann glia and astrocytes of the white matter. In sections of adult cerebella, anti-p36 staining was restricted to Bergmann glial processes and to the processes of a subclass of astrocytes in the granular layer and the white matter. At no developmental stage was anti-p36 staining detectable in axons or dendrites in vibratome sections. These results suggest that p36 plays a role in some aspect of cellular differentiation common to all cerebellar cell types and may have additional functions in astrocytes of the adult cerebellum.

The presence of tropomyosins in adrenal chromaffin cells was demonstrated by immunoperoxidase staining of cultured chromaffin cells by an anti-tropomyosin antibody. In immunoblotting the antibody labelled polypeptides of Mr 39000, 36500 and 31000 in 100000 × g supernatants and heat-stable fractions of adrenal medulla. The adrenal medullary tropomyosins did not comigrate with smooth muscle tropomyosins. The 39-kDa and 31-kDa polypeptides comigrated with polypeptides labelled by anti-tropomyosin in brain supernatants. Chromaffin granule membranes possessed a 39-kDa polypeptide that was labelled by anti-tropomyosin.

Stimulation of adrenal chromaffin cells results in a rise in the concentration of intracellular free calcium which initiates catecholamine secretion by exocytosis. An understanding of the molecular basis of exocytosis will require knowledge of the sites of action of calcium. A role for calmodulin has been implicated in secretion from chromaffin cells, and isolated granule membranes bind both calmodulin and a series of cytosolic proteins in a calcium-dependent fashion. Here, we demonstrate that one of the cytosolic granule-binding proteins with a relative molecular mass (Mr) of 70,000 (70K) is a form of the calmodulin-regulated actin-binding protein caldesmon, first isolated from smooth muscle. Cytoplasmic gels assembled from an adrenal medullary extract in the absence of Ca2+ contained actin and the 70K protein. The association of both of these proteins with the cytoplasmic gel was inhibited by a micromolar concentration of Ca2+. In addition, we have demonstrated that the 70K protein is localized at the periphery of chromaffin cells. These results are consistent with the notion that 70K protein (caldesmon) has a role in regulating the organization of actin filaments of the cell periphery during the secretory process.

We have examined the question of whether alpha-tubulin is detyrosylated during axonal transport in retinal ganglion cell axons and axons of spinal motor neurons. The degree of tyrosylation of alpha-tubulin was estimated from immunocytochemistry and immunoblotting with two anti-alpha-tubulin monoclonals, one of which (YL1/2) recognizes only the tyrosylated form of alpha-tubulin. In the case of retinal ganglion cells, the axons were depleted of tyrosylated alpha-tubulin both in the retina and proximal region of the optic nerve. Distal regions of the axons, in the optic tract, gave a pattern of staining consistent with a reduction in the total level of alpha-tubulin at the expense of detyrosylated alpha-tubulin. Axons within the L5 ventral root, the sciatic nerve and tibial nerve were consistently unstained by YL1/2 indicating that these axons were depleted in tyrosylated alpha-tubulin in all 3 segments. The results indicate that alpha-tubulin destined for axonal microtubules is detyrosylated close to or in cell bodies and not progressively during its transport. Therefore the segregation of detyrosylated alpha-tubulin to axonal microtubules may occur at their site of assembly.

A rabbit antiserum against chicken gizzard tropomyosin reacted with two doublets of 30,000 and 40,000 mol. wt., respectively. The heat stability of these polypeptides argued in favour of their being tropomyosins. Immunocytochemical staining of cryostat sections with the antibody showed that tropomyosin was present in glial cells (Bergman glia and oligodendrocytes) and in all identified neuronal cell types in the rat cerebellum. Tropomyosin was not localized homogeneously within neurons, being highly enriched in dendrites and cell bodies in comparison with axons. Myelinated axons of the cerebellar white matter showed only faint staining by the antibody. These results give further evidence for the compartmentalization of cytoskeletal proteins within neurons resulting in major differences in axonal and dendritic cytoskeletons.