BIM: innovation in design management, influence and challenges of implementation

The construction industry is widely being criticised as a fragmented industry. There are mounting calls for the industry to change. The espoused change calls for collaboration as well as embracing innovation in the process of design, construction and across the supply chain. Innovation and the application of emerging technologies are seen as enablers for integrating the processes ‘integrating the team’ such as building information modelling (BIM). A questionnaire survey was conducted to ascertain change in construction with regard to design management, innovation and the application of BIM as cutting edge pathways for collaboration. The respondents to the survey were from an array of designations across the construction industry such as construction managers, designers, engineers, design coordinators, design managers, architects, architectural technologists and surveyors. There was a general agreement by most respondents that the design team was responsible for design management in their organisation. There is a perception that the design manager and the client are the catalyst for advancing innovation. The current state of industry in terms of incorporating BIM technologies is posing a challenge as well as providing an opportunity for accomplishment. BIM technologies provide a new paradigm shift in the way buildings are designed, constructed and maintained. This paradigm shift calls for rethinking the curriculum for educating building professionals, collectively.

The Use of On-Line Computer adaptive Testing to raise Standardized Test Scores

Nursing school graduates are under pressure to pass the RN-NCLEX Exam on the first attempt since New York State monitors the results and uses them to evaluate the school’s nursing programs. Since the RN-NCLEX Exam is a standardized test, we sought a method to make our students better test takers. The use of on-line computer adaptive testing has raised our student’s standardized test scores at the end of the nursing course.

Cutting Cursive: Is Handwriting Still Important to Today’s Preservice Teacher?

Handwriting is a tool for communication often untaught that has effects on learning and long-term development for students of the future. Handwriting used to be needed in order to function in society, however, today that skill is no longer needed. New technology, current teaching methods and societal needs have caused handwriting to be overlooked in many school districts. Classrooms are overwhelmed with information and many schools are simply running out of time to teach cursive, therefore no longer making it a priority. Handwriting is a perceptual motor skill requiring higher cognitive thinking, something that most primary school children find difficult, yet it is still needed in the school curriculum and provides a stable foundation for students of the future. The questions to be addressed by my research are to examine the factors that have led to the demise of cursive writing in elementary schools. I will research the complex issues that have contributed to the decline of cursive handwriting. This will include my investigation into the factors that technology has played, along with societal needs. I will interview preservice teachers, those students in college preparing to become teachers, and try to understand where the importance for teaching handwriting started and ended. By the end of my research I want to have constructed a timeline of events to explain the demise of this needed skill. My methodology for this research will be to gather information from various primary and secondary literature review sources. I want to understand when cursive started to disappear from the curriculum and why.

Building Leadership: The Knowledge of Principals in Creating Collaborative Communities of Professional Learning

Research literature is replete with the importance of collaboration in schools, the lack of its implementation, the centrality of the role of the principal, and the existence of a gap between knowledge and practice--or a "Knowing-Doing Gap." In other words, there is a set of knowledge that principals must know in order to create a collaborative workplace environment for teachers. This study sought to describe what high school principals know about creating such a culture of collaboration. The researcher combed journal articles, studies and professional literature in order to identify what principals must know in order to create a culture of collaboration. The result was ten elements of principal knowledge: Staff involvement in important decisions, Charismatic leadership not being necessary for success, Effective elements of teacher teams, Administrator‘s modeling professional learning, The allocation of resources, Staff meetings focused on student learning, Elements of continuous improvement, and Principles of Adult Learning, Student Learning and Change. From these ten elements, the researcher developed a web-based survey intended to measure nine of those elements (Charismatic leadership was excluded). Principals of accredited high schools in the state of Nebraska were invited to participate in this survey, as high schools are well-known for the isolation that teachers experience--particularly as a result of departmentalization. The results indicate that principals have knowledge of eight of the nine measured elements. The one that they lacked an understanding of was Principles of Student Learning. Given these two findings of what principals do and do not know, the researcher recommends that professional organizations, intermediate service agencies and district-level support staff engage in systematic and systemic initiatives to increase the knowledge of principals in the element of lacking knowledge. Further, given that eight of the nine elements are understood by principals, it would be wise to examine reasons for the implementation gap (Knowing-Doing Gap) and how to overcome it.

Indigenous knowledge related to climate variability and change: insights from droughts in semi-arid areas of former Makueni District, Kenya

This article describes the indigenous knowledge (IK) that agro-pastoralists in larger Makueni District, Kenya hold and how they use it to monitor, mitigate and adapt to drought. It examines ways of integrating IK into formal monitoring, how to enhance its value and acceptability. Data was collected through target interviews, group discussions and questionnaires covering 127 households in eight villages. Daily rainfall data from 1961–2003 were analysed. Results show that agro-pastoralists hold IK on indicators of rainfall variability; they believe in IK efficacy and they rely on them. Because agro-pastoralists consult additional sources, the authors interpret that IK forms a basic knowledge frame within which agro-pastoralists position and interpret meteorological forecasts. Only a few agro-pastoralists adapt their practices in anticipation of IK-based forecasts partly due to the conditioning of the actors to the high rainfall variability characteristic of the area and partly due to lack of resources. Non-drought factors such as poverty, inadequate resources and lack of preparedness expose agro-pastoralists to drought impacts and limit their adaptive capacity. These factors need to be understood and effectively addressed to increase agro-pastoralists’ decision options and the influence of IK-based forecasts on their decision-making patterns. The limited intergenerational transfer of IK currently threatens its existence in the longer term. One way to ensure its continued existence and use is to integrate IK into the education curriculum and to link IK with formal climate change research through the participation of the local people. However, further studies are necessary to address the reliability and validity of the identified IK indicators of climate variability and change.

Preservice, Secondary Social Studies Teachers' Perceptions of Gender Equity

This study examines preservice, social studies teachers’ perceptions of gender equity. The assumption that preservice teachers recognize gender as an important issue and are willing and able to take the initiative to remedy inequities in their classroom structures and content is considered. Six participants were interviewed using Seidman’s (2006) three-round, interview protocol. A focused life history was compiled to situate participants’ perceptions within their personal and professional experiences. Findings suggest a disconnect between preservice teachers' intentions and their practice in regards to gender equity. More explicit attention to gender equity in teacher education programs is recommended.

Promoting Student Collaboration in a Detracked, Heterogeneous Secondary Mathematics Classroom

Detracking and heterogeneous groupwork are two educational practices that have been shown to have promise for affording all students needed learning opportunities to develop mathematical proficiency. However, teachers face significant pedagogical challenges in organizing productive groupwork in these settings. This study offers an analysis of one teacher’s role in creating a classroom system that supported student collaboration within groups in a detracked, heterogeneous geometry classroom. The analysis focuses on four categories of the teacher’s work that created a set of affordances to support within group collaborative practices and links the teacher’s work with principles of complex systems.

A Jewel in Our Midst: a photo essay of the Connecticut River

Its unique tidal marshes, ecology, geology, scenic areas, and fascinating history make the Connecticut River a treasure to residents and visitors alike. It is one of the 1,713 “Wetlands of International Importance” designated throughout the world by the International Ramsar Convention. This photo essay also describes the education efforts underway by Connecticut Sea Grant and its partners to assist educators with resource materials.

Improving Automaticity with Basic Addition Facts: Do Taped Problems Work Faster Than Cover, Copy, Compare?

This small pilot study compared the effectiveness of two interventions to improve automaticity with basic addition facts: Taped Problems (TP) and Cover, Copy, Compare (CCC), in students aged 6-10. Automaticity was measured using Mathematics Curriculum-Based Measurement (M-CBM) at pretest, after 10 days, and after 20 days of intervention. Our hypothesis was that the TP group will gain higher levels of automaticity more quickly than the CCC and control groups. However, when gain scores were compared, no significant differences were found between groups. Limitations to the study include low treatment integrity and a short duration of intervention.

Is family medicine meeting the HIV/AIDS challenge? A national survey of family physicians' beliefs, clinical competence, and experience regarding HIV disease

A national sample of family physicians was surveyed to (1) assess family physicians' beliefs about the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and individuals at risk for infection, their clinical competence regarding HIV-related issues, and their experiences with HIV disease; (2) present conclusions to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to effect the development of an early clinical care protocol and a continuing medical education curriculum; and (3) collect base-line data for use in the evaluation of an early clinical care protocol and a continuing medical education curriculum, in the case that such programs are developed and disseminated. After considering retired or deceased respondents, of the 2,660 physicians surveyed, 1,678 (63.7%) responded. The resulting sample was representative of the active members of the AAFP. About 77% of the respondents were unable to accurately identify the universal precautions for blood and body fluids to prevent occupational transmission of HIV or hepatitis B virus (HBV). Residency trained and board certified physicians expressed fewer "external constraints," such as fear of losing patients, obviating them from providing treatment to individuals with HIV disease (p =.004 and p $<$.001, respectively). These physicians also manifested fewer "internal constraints" to the provision of HIV treatment, such as fear of becoming infected (p $<$.001 and p =.012, respectively). Residency trained physicians also expressed a greater comfort with discussing sexually-related topics with their patients than did non-residency trained physicians (p $<$.001). There were 67.1% of the physicians surveyed who reported never providing treatment to an individual with HIV disease. Residency trained and board certified physicians expressed a greater likelihood to provide treatment to HIV-infected patients (p $<$.001) than non-residency trained and non-board certified physicians.^ Among the various primary care specialties, family medicine is especially vulnerable to the current challenges of HIV/AIDS. These challenges are augmented by the epidemiologic pattern that characterizes AIDS. For the past several years, we have seen AIDS in this country assume a similar pattern to that seen in most other countries; HIV is becoming increasingly prevalent in the heterosexual population as well as in locations removed from metropolitan centers. This current phase of the epidemic generates greater pressures upon primary care physicians, particularly family physicians, to become better acquainted with the means to provide early care to HIV/AIDS patients and to prevent HIV/AIDS among their patients. Family medicine is especially appropriate for providing care to HIV patients because family medicine involves treatment to all age groups and conditions; other primary care specialties focus on limited patient populations or specific conditions. Family physicians should be armed with the expertise to confront HIV/AIDS. However, family physicians' clinical competence and experience with HIV is not known. The data collected in this survey describes their competencies, attitudes, and experiences. ^

Cognitive structures, strategies and instruction

This thesis is organised into three parts. In Part 1 relevant literature is reviewed and three critical components in the development of a cognitive approach to instruction are identified. These three components are considered to be the structure of the subject-matter, the learner's cognitive structures, and the learner's cognitive strategies which act as control and transfer devices between the instructional materials and the learner's cognitive structures. Six experiments are described in Part 2 which is divided into two methodologically distinct units. The three experiments of Unit 1 examined how learning from materials constructed from concept name by concept attribute matrices is influenced by learner or experimenter controlled sequence and organisation. The results suggested that the relationships between input organisation, output organisation and recall are complex and highlighted the importance of investigating organisational strategies at both acquisition and recall. The role of subjects previously acquired knowledge and skills in relation to the instructional material was considered to be an important factor. The three experiments of Unit 2 utilised a "diagramming relationships methodology" which was devised as one means of investigating the processes by which new information is assimilated into an individual's cognitive structure. The methodology was found to be useful in identifying cognitive strategies related to successful task performance. The results suggested that errors could be minimised and comprehension improved on the diagramming relationships task by instructing subjects in ways which induced successful processing operations. Part 3 of this thesis highlights salient issues raised by the experimental work within the framework outlined in Part 1 and discusses potential implications for future theoretical developments and research.

JA Entrepreneurship (Start-up) Academic Program Curriculum

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2013

Profiling The Campus Recruiter At A Four-Year Hospitality Program

Profiling the Campus Recruiter At a Four-Year Hospitality Program, is a written profile, supported by anecdotal rather than stridently empirical evidence, by Al lzzolo, Assistant Professor, College of Hotel Administration, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “Each year major chain corporations as well as single unit companies interview hospitality students throughout the country. A study conducted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was designed to profile the hospitality industry campus recruiter and to provide meaningful data to college students who would be interviewing with these recruiters,” the author initially proffers. “Recruiting at the four-year hospitality program, by its nature, is not a science, nor is it highly quantifiable. The interviewing and selection processes are highly subjective and vary from company to company,” says Izzolo to preface his essay. “Data were collected via a questionnaire specifically designed to answer questions about the recruiters and/or the companies that sent interviewers to the placement office of the university's hospitality program,” our author says to explain the process used to gather information for the piece. Findings of the study indicate that the typical recruiter is male, college educated – but not necessarily in a Hospitality’ curriculum – and almost 80 percent of respondents said they had the authority to hire management trainees. Few campuses are visited by hospitality industry recruitment staff as evidenced by Izzolo’s observations/data. Table 3 analyzes the desirable traits a recruiter deems appropriate for the potential employee candidate. Personal appearance, work experience, grade point average, and verbal communication rank high on the list of distinguishable attributes. The most striking finding in this portion of the study is that a student’s GPA is virtually ignored. “Recruiting for the hospitality industry appears to be very subjective,” Izzolo says. “Recruiters are basing decisions to hire not on knowledge levels as determined by an academic grade point average but rather on criteria much less definitive, such as verbal skills and personal appearance,” our author opines. In closing, Izzolo concedes this is not a definitive study, but is merely a launching pad to a more comprehensive investigation on the recruitment subject.

Parent involvement on school advisory councils: a process evaluation at the middle school level

Increasing parental involvement was made an important goal for all Florida schools in educational reform legislation in the 1990's. A forum for this input was established and became known as the School Advisory Council (SAC). To demonstrate the importance of process and inclusion, a south Florida school district and its local teacher's union agreed on the following five goals for SACs: (a) to foster an environment of professional collaboration among all stakeholders, (b) to assist in the preparation and evaluation of the school improvement plan, (c) to address all state and district goals, (d) to serve as the avenue for authentic and representative input from all stakeholders, and (e) to ensure the continued existence of the consensus-building process on all issues related to the school's instructional program. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent and in what ways the parent members of one south Florida middle school's SAC achieved the five district goals during its first three years of implementation. The primary participants were 16 parents who served as members of the SAC, while 16 non-parent members provided perspective on parent involvement as "outside sources." Being qualitative by design, factors such as school climate, leadership styles, and the quality of parental input were described from data collected from four sources: parent interviews, a questionnaire of non-parents, researcher observations, and relevant documents. A cross-case analysis of all data informed a process evaluation that described the similarities and differences of intended and observed outcomes of parent involvement from each source using Stake's descriptive matrix model. A formative evaluation of the process compared the observed outcomes with standards set for successful SACs, such as the district's five goals. The findings indicated that parents elected to the SACs did not meet the intended goals set by the state and district. The school leadership did not foster an environment of professional collaboration and authentic decision-making for parents and other stakeholders. The overall process did not include consensus-building, and there was little if any input by parents on school improvement and other important issues relating to the instructional program. Only two parents gave the SAC a successful rating for involving parents in the decision-making process. Although compliance was met in many of the procedural transactions of the SAC, the reactions of parents to their perceived role and influence often reflected feelings of powerlessness and frustration with a process that many thought lacked meaningfulness and productivity. Two conclusions made from this study are as follows: (a) that the role of the principal in the collaborative process is pivotal, and (b) that the normative-re-educative approach to change would be most appropriate for SACs.