Florida International University College of Medicine and Mount Sinai Medical Center Partner to Establish New Teaching Program

Press Release from Florida International University 's Office of Media Relations on the partnership between the Florida International University College of Medicine and Mt. Sinai Medical Center to establish a new teaching program.

Profile of planning: A study of a three-year project on the implementation of collaborative library media programs

The implementation of collaborative planning and teaching models in ten flexibly scheduled elementary and middle school library media centers was studied to determine which factors facilitated the collaborative planning process and to learn what occurs when library media specialists (LMSs) and classroom teachers (CTs) plan together. In this qualitative study, 61 principals, CTs, and LMSs were interviewed on a range of topics including the principal's role, school climate, the value of team planning, the importance of information literacy instruction, and the ideal learning environment. Other data sources were observations, videotapes of planning sessions, and documents. This three-year school reform effort was funded by the Library Power Project to improve library programs, to encourage collaborative planning, and to increase curricular integration of information literacy skills instruction. ^ The findings included a description of typical planning sessions and the identification of several major factors which impacted the success of collaborative planning: the individuals involved, school climate, time for planning, the organization of the school, the facility and collection, and training. Of these factors, the characteristics and actions of the people involved were most critical to the implementation of the innovation. The LMS was the pivotal player and, in the views of CTs, principals, and LMSs themselves, must be knowledgeable about curriculum, the library collection, and instructional design and delivery; must be open and welcoming to CTs and use good interpersonal skills; and must be committed to information literacy instruction and willing to act as a change agent. The support of the principal was vital; in schools with successful programs, the principal served as an advocate for collaborative planning and information literacy instruction, provided financial support for the library program including clerical staff, and arranged for LMSs and CTs to have time during the school day to plan together. ^ CTs involved in positive planning partnerships with LMSs were flexible, were open to change, used a variety of instructional materials, expected students to be actively involved in their own learning, and were willing to team teach with LMSs. Most CTs planning with LMSs made lesson plans in advance and preferred to plan with others. Also, most CTs in this study planned with grade level or departmental groups, which expedited the delivery of information literacy instruction and the effective use of planning time. ^ Implications of the findings of this research project were discussed for individual schools, for school districts, and for colleges and universities training LMSs, CTs, and administrators. Suggestions for additional research were also included. ^

Teaching Empowerment Through Sport: An Analysis of Fast and Female

This project is about Fast and Female, a community-based girls’ sport organization, that focuses on empowering girls through sport. In this thesis I produce a discourse analysis from interviews with six expert sportswomen and a textual analysis of the organization’s online content – including its social media pages. I ground my analysis in poststructural theory as explained by Chris Weedon (1997) and in literature that helps contextualize and better define empowerment (Collins, 2000; Cruikshank, 1999; Hains, 2012; Sharma, 2008; Simon, 1994) and neoliberalism (Silk & Andrews, 2012). My analysis in this project suggests that Fast and Female develops a community through online and in-person interaction. This community is focused on girls’ sport and empowerment, but, as the organization is situated in a neoliberal context, organizers must take extra consideration in order for the organization to develop a girls’ sport culture that is truly representative of the desires and needs of the participants rather than implicit neoliberal values. It is important to note that Fast and Female does not identify as a feminist organization. Through this thesis I argue that Fast and Female teaches girls that sport is empowering – but, while the organization draws on “empowerment,” a term often used by feminists, it promotes a notion of empowerment that teaches female athletes how to exist within current mainstream and sporting cultures, rather than encouraging them to be empowered female citizens who learn to question and challenge social inequity. I conclude my thesis with suggestions for Fast and Female to encourage empowerment in spite of the current neoliberal situation. I also offer a goal-setting workbook that I developed to encourage girls to set goals while thinking about their communities rather than just themselves.

Social media integration for the purpose of self-regulated learning

In this study, design based research in a teacher design team is performed. Teachers who intend to use social media to extend their school class teaching, are confronted with a lack of clear guidelines that inform them how to utilize them effectively. In this study, we aim at formulating such guidelines and testing their usefulness. First, opportunities to facilitate self-regulated learning (SRL) in higher education through the use of social media are elaborated in a literature study. Second, these opportunities are translated into teacher education to search for stimulating and limiting factors within the design, resulting in guidelines for effective social media integration.

Equipping young people to engage with media driven science experiences: beyond science knowledge to science literacy and discerning consumers of news.

This paper reports on a study of a curricular intervention for pupils (age 10-13 years) in the UK aimed at supporting critical engagement with science based media reports. In particular the study focused on core elements of knowledge, skills and attitudes identified in previous studies that characterize critical consumers of science presented as news. This was an empirical study based on classroom observation. Data included responses from individual pupils, in addition video recording of group activity and intentional conversations between pupils and teachers were scrutinised. Analysis focused on core tasks relating to different elements of critical reading. Pupils demonstrated a grasp of questioning and evaluating text, however the capacity to translate this experience in support of a critical response to a media report with a science component is limited in assessing the credibility of text and as an element in critical reading.

Committing Curricular Time to Science Literacy: The Benefits from Science-based Media Resources

Science reported in the media is an authentic source material to explore science research and innovation, to learn how science works and to consolidate science literacy skills.

Media reports intended to communicate science research and innovation provide opportunities for teachers to develop among their pupils the critical reading skills that are essential for promoting literacy in science.

This study focuses on a curricular intervention with upper primary pupils (age 11 years) and uses science reported in the media to facilitate science directed learning in the primary curriculum.

The study suggests that the use of science based media reports can be a positive learning experience for pupils. Strategies and teaching approaches can be used to boost pupils’ confidence and competence to adopt critical reading strategies when they encounter science-based media.

Critical reading and reasoning strategies vary in their degree of difficulty. This study would suggest that, when using media-based resources, teachers need approaches that systematically address the different levels of cognative challenge presented by media resources and create opportunities within the curriculum to revisit, consolidate and develop pupils’ critical reasoning skills.

Teaching boys in neoliberal and postfeminist times: Feminization and the question of re-masculinization in the education system and policy field

This paper focuses on teaching boys, male teachers and the question of gendered pedagogies in neoliberal and postfeminist times of the proliferation of new forms of capitalism, multi-mediated technologies and the influence of globalization. It illustrates how a politics of re-masculinization and its reconstitution needs to be understood as set against changing economic and social conditions in which gender equity comes to be re-focused on boys as the ‚new disadvantaged‘. This re-framing of gender equity, it is argued, has been fuelled by both a media-inspired backlash discourse about ‚failing boys‘ and a neo-positivist emphasis on numbers derived primarily from standardized testing regimes at both global and national levels. A media-focused analysis of the proliferation of discourses about ‚failing boys‘ vis-a-vis the problem of encroaching feminization in the school system is provided to illuminate how certain truths about the influence of male teachers come to define how the terms of ensuring gender equity are delimited and reduced to a question of gendered pedagogies as grounded in sexed bodies. Historical accounts of the feminization of teaching in the North American context are also provided as a basis for building a more informed understanding of the present, particularly as it relates to the contextualization of policy articulation and enactment regarding the problem of teaching boys. In light of such historically informed and critical media analysis, it is argued that what is needed is a more informed, evidenced based policy articulation of the problem of teaching boys and a more gender sensitive reflection on the politics of masculinities in postfeminist times. (DIPF/Orig.)

Teaching by chat

This paper discusses some didactical aspects of chat usage for instructional purposes. Areas covered range from the choice of course type and student group for using chats, to the preparation and moderation of chats, and discussing how to manage both troublemaking students and systems. In February 1998 I was the chair of a committee at my previous university that was authoring a recommendation list about the Internet to the president of the school. One of our recommendations was to eliminate the IRC server (Internet Relay Chat), since it was only causing traffic and was just being used for games. We stated that we could not envision a use for chatting either for research or for instructional purposes. Five years later here I am: teaching 4 of my 5 courses by way of chat. There has been an enormous growth in the use of chat-based instruction, but also quite a lot of problems encountered. Much of the available literature addresses technical problems, or discusses chats from an educational psychology perspective. This paper will address ten of the didactical issues in chat-based instruction, summarizing the experiences that I have made in many years of chat experience (DIPF/Orig.)

Technical and Didactical Scenarios of Student-centered Teaching and Learning

In this paper we envision didactical concepts for university education based on self-responsible and project-based learning and outline principles of adequate technical support. We use the scenario technique describing how a fictive student named Anna organizes her studies of informatics at a fictive university from the first days of her studies to make a career for herself.(DIPF/Orig.)

Ear-related problems among children attending the paediatric and otorhinolaryngology out-patients clinics of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu.

Background: Ear related diseases are commonly seen in clinics worldwide especially among children. They are associated with significant morbidity and frequent hospital visits. Limited data exists regarding the burden of ear disease among Nigerian children. Objective: To determine the prevalence of ear-related problems among children presenting at the Paediatric and Otorhinolaryngology clinics of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu. Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the Paediatric and Otorhinolaryngology Clinics of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu. All children aged 0 and 17 years presenting between 1st June and 31st August 2006 with ear-related problems were enrolled consecutively into the study. Data analysis was by SPSS version 11. Results: Three thousand and twenty-one children were seen during the study period. Out of these, 248 children (8.2%) presented with ear-related problems. Chronic otitis media (30.5%), acute otitis media (29.9%), cerumen auris (11.3%), otitis externa(10.1%), hearing impairment (7.3%) and foreign body in the ear (5.7%) were the most commonly diagnosed ear-related problems. Conclusion: Ear-related problems among children presenting at the UNTH Enugu were not uncommon. However, otitis media was the most commonly diagnosed ailment affecting the ears in children.

Las herramientas web 2.0 más utilizadas en el área de estudios sociales en educación general básica media

En el presente trabajo titulado “Las herramientas Web 2.0 más utilizadas en el área de Estudios Sociales en Educación General Básica Media”,se realizó un análisis y recopilación de información bibliográfica que da a conocer diferentes sitios web relacionados con destrezas y criterios de desempeño necesarios para el aprendizaje. Esta investigación se enfoca en reconocer la importancia de recientes instrumentos de estudio interactivos e innovadores dentro del proceso enseñanza – aprendizaje; destaca la utilidad de la aplicación de las Nuevas Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación, con el fin de potenciar un aprendizaje significativo integral entre los estudiantes a partir de la búsqueda, indagación, reflexión y análisis de dichas herramientas tecnológicas.

Teaching students using technology: Facilitating success for students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds in Australian universities

Australian higher education has adopted a widening participation agenda with a focus on the participation of disadvantaged students, particularly those from low socioeconomic status (LSES) backgrounds. As these students begin to enter university in greater number and proportion than ever before, there is increasing interest in how best to facilitate their success. A recent national study employed semi-structured interviews to ask 89 successful LSES students what had helped them succeed. Twenty-six staff experienced in effectively teaching and supporting LSES students were also interviewed about what approaches they used in their work. Analysis of the study's findings indicates a strong theme related to the use of technology in effectively teaching and supporting LSES students. In particular, the use of a range of resources and media, facilitating interactive and connected learning, enabling personalised learning and assuring high academic standards were found to contribute to student success. The implications of these findings are discussed with a specific focus on promoting effective teaching practice and informing related policy. At a time when the diversity of the student cohort in Australian higher education institutions is increasing, the findings reported in this paper are both timely and critical for educators and institutions.

Transformations of teaching and learning through digital technologies

This chapter is a critical synthesis of research related to the transformations that take place when digital technologies are incorporated into teaching and learning practices. In developing this synthesis, research from all levels of education was reviewed with a focus on the opportunities digital technologies offer for cognitive, pedagogical, affective and professional change. The chapter is structured in alignment with Pierce and Stacey’s (Pierce and Stacey, Int J Comput Math Learn 15(1):1–20 2010) map of pedagogical opportunities in which three dimensions for educational transformation were identified: tasks, classroom, and subject. A discussion of future directions for research into technology enhanced mathematics education concludes the review.