Strategies for Supporting Students on Academic Probation

Students who are placed on academic probation often require institutional support to correct unproductive study habits and return to good academic standing. This report reviews academic probation policies and academic recovery plans at four small, private colleges. It includes a discussion of the importance of interventions for at-risk students prior to their placement on academic probation, and concludes with a review of outcomes for students on probation.

In search of academic identity : physical education, sport science and the field of human movement studies

This thesis addresses the problem of the academic identity of the area traditionally referred to as physical education. The study is a critical examination of the argu ments for the justi cation of this area as an autonomous branch of knowledge. The investigation concentrates on a selected number of arguments. The data collection comprised articles books and proceedings of conferences. The preliminary assessment of these materials resulted in a classi cation of the arguments into three groups. The rst group comprises the arguments in favour of physical education as an academic discipline. The second includes the arguments supporting a science of sport. The third consists of the arguments in favour of to a eld of human movement study. The examination of these arguments produced the following results. (a) The area of physical education does not satisfy the conditions presupposed by the de nition of academic discipline. This is so because the area does not form an integrated system of scienti c theories. (b) The same di culty emerges from the examination of the ar guments for sport science. There is no science of sport because there is no integrated system of scienti c theories related to sport. (c) The arguments in favour of a eld of study yielded more productive results. However di culties arise from the de nition of human movement. The analysis of this concept showed that its limits are not well demarcated. This makes it problematic to take human movement as the focus of a eld of studies. These aspects led to the conclusion that such things as an academic discipline of physical education sport science and eld of human movement studies do not exist. At least there are not such things in the sense of autonomous branches of knowledge. This does not imply that a more integrated inquiry based on several disciplines is not possible and desirable. This would enable someone entering phys ical education to nd a more organised structure of knowledge with some generally accepted problem situations procedures and theories on which to base professional practice.

As mudanças nos processos de gestão do conhecimento: o caso Embratel

o aumento da competição despertou nas organizações a necessidade de reverem seus processos. Com o advento do fenômeno da globalização, associado ao desenvolvimento das telecomunicações, da tecnologia da informação e dos processos de logística, os mercados ficaram cada vez mais restritos, fazendo com que a inovação no desenvolvimento de produtos e o correto entendimento das necessidades dos clientes passassem a representar um diferencial de mercado. Para os profissionais, estas mudanças representaram novos desafios no tocante à cobrança por resultados e à manutenção da empregabilidade. No meio de todas estas mudanças, surge no cenário empresarial e acadêmico um novo processo de gestão, conhecido por gestão do conhecimento. Além disso, os efeitos deste novo cenário levou à abertura de mercados até então restritos, dentre eles o de telecomunicações, cujas empresas operadoras brasileiras foram privatizadas em 1998. Entre ela, insere-se a Empresa Brasileira de Telecomunicações (Embratel), criada em 1965 com a função de integrar o país por meio das telecomunicações. Atuando com um perfil de engenharia por 30 anos, a Embratel se viu obrigada a promover profundas mudanças em seus processos internos e no perfil de seus profissionais para se transformar em uma empresa prestadora de serviços, implantando e reformulando sistemáticas voltadas à aquisição e desenvolvimento de novas competências. Este estudo apresenta uma análise das mudanças do processo da gestão do conhecimento na EmbrateL a partir da privatização do setor de telecomunicações no Brasil. O método utilizado foi a análise de conteúdo, feita com base em dados coletados no campo, em documentos e na bibliografia existente. F oram analisados os principais processos da gestão do conhecimento ao longo da vida da EmbrateL dividindo-a em três períodos: de 1965 a 1994, período essencialmente estatal; de 1995 a 1997, período em que a empresa viveu sua transição para a privatização, e a partir de 1998, período de ambiente privado. O estudo permitiu concluir que, apesar de terem sido observadas mudanças nos indicadores de aquisição e desenvolvimento de conhecimento, a Embratel demonstra ser uma empresa na qual sempre existiu o processo de gestão do conhecimento, o que certamente contribuiu para sua história de sucesso.

Gestão organizacional X educação a distância: um estudo de caso da gestão da EAD na Faculdade Ideal-Faci

A presente pesquisa de caráter qualitativo, realizada no ano de 2009, teve como objetivo examinar o processo de Gestão da Educação a Distância, promovido na Instituição de Ensino Superior Faculdade Ideal, a fim de averiguar à satisfação dos clientes (alunos) e da equipe gestora (funcionários da administração, professores e diretores) em relação à qualidade (eficiência e eficácia) do processo. Nesse sentido, mediante um estudo de caso, procedeu-se a pesquisa em duas etapas: na primeira desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa bibliográfica e documental para a fundamentação teórica e apropriação documental que possibilitou o conhecimento da IES em questão; na segunda etapa foram realizadas a observação participante, as entrevistas e a aplicação dos questionários na IES objeto deste estudo ao envolvidos no processo, o que proporcionou a coleta dos dados e subsidiou a elaboração do referencial textual e as análises realizadas. Após a investigação, chegaram-se as considerações de que a IES desenvolve algumas estratégias de gestão do conhecimento que viabilizam o desenvolvimento e a sustentação de competências capazes de promovê-Ia. Também se observou que o modelo de gestão adotado promove uma educação (EAD) de qualidade (eficiente e eficaz), satisfazendo os participes do processo, os quais avaliaram os domlnios de competência como bom e ótimo. Além disso, detectou-se que o ponto forte do modelo de gestão adotado está sustentado nos domlnios de qualidade associado à tecnologia. A análise dos dados permitiu algumas inferências: os domlnios qualidade e tecnologia apresentaram altos nlveis de aprovação pela equipe gestora; já os alunos avaliaram o domlnio qualidade como ótimo e os demais como bons, isto é, três em cada quatro alunos estão satisfeitos ou muito satisfeitos com a qualidade da EAD ofertada na IES, disso resulta que se sentem atendidos e satisfeitos como clientes em relação à qualidade dos serviços ofertados e as suas necessidades educacionais. Entretanto, detectou-se que os respondentes não conseguiram identificar o tipo de gestão adotado na IES. Também se verificou que a empresa não possui nenhuma forma de recompensa ou reconhecimento para gerir o conhecimento do capital intelectual institucional. Conclui-se, portanto, que este trabalho possibilitou a esta pesquisadora reflexões intensas, levando-a a repensar o seu próprio exerclcio profissionalacadêmico. Faz-se necessário também informar que não se teve pretensão em abordar a totalidade das questões que permeiam a discussão deste assunto, intentando-se, tão-somente, apontá-Ias como relacionais. Assim, espera-se que esta pesquisa sirva de orientação para outros pesquisadores na área da gestão educacional da EAD e que a mesma, diferentemente de se tornar mais uma produção nas prateleiras da academia, suscite novas discussões e novos debates na área, inquietando alguns e em outros despertando "novos olhares" em direção a uma educação a distância de qualidade (eficiente e eficaz).

The market of academic journals : empirical evidence from data on French libraries

This paper analyzes the demand and cost structure of the French market of academic journals, taking into account its intermediary role between researchers, who are both producers and consumers of knowledge. This two sidedness feature will echoes similar problems already observed in electronic markets – payment card systems, video game console etc - such as the chicken and egg problem, where readers won’t buy a journal if they do not expect its articles to be academically relevant and researchers, that live under the mantra “Publish or Perish”, will not submit to a journal with either limited public reach or weak reputation. After the merging of several databases, we estimate the aggregated nested logit demand system combined simultaneously with a cost function. We identify the structural parameters of this market and find that price elasticities of demand are quite large and margins relatively low, indicating that this industry experiences competitive constraints.

Cognitive abilities, sociocultural background and academic achievement

The infl uence of students’ sociocultural background on academic achievement is a well established fact. Research also points out that sociocultural background is related to students’ cognitive abilities and these have an effect on their academic achievement. However, the mediator role of cognitive abilities on the relationship between sociocultural background and academic achievement is less well known. A structural equation model that represents these relationships was tested in a sample (N= 728) of Portuguese junior high school students. Multigroup analysis of the model showed the importance of the cognitive ability mediation effect between sociocultural background and academic achievement in the 7th and 9th grades, but not in the 8th grade. This difference may be the result of the academic transition experienced in the 7th and 9th grades in the Portuguese educational system, which requires parents’ higher involvement in school.

Teamwork in academia: an empirical study

The Bologna Process introduced some changes in the curriculum of higher education institutions (HEIs) and defined that academic learning should consider the needs of the labour market. HEIs and employers agree that personal skills are the most important set of competence of graduates (Pavlin, Akkuyunlu, Kovacic, & Svetlik, 2009). The goals of this work were to explore how the work experienced by teams of students in HEIs might help them improve their personal skills, namely empirically explore the perception of teamwork and personality into two groups of students. The study was based on the theoretical model of Team Evolution and Maturation (TEAM, Fransen, 2012). The sample consisted of 99 students of the 3rd year of the degree (1st cycle) in Computer Science (49 students) and the 2nd year of the Bachelor's Degree (1st cycle) in Psychology (50 students), from the University of Madeira, Portugal. Areas of personality and team collaboration were evaluated with a Pre- and Post-test. Findings show that the perception of the teamwork collaboration of students in Computer Science and Psychology majors seems to be influenced by their scientific area, by gender, by the selection method of the time-organiser, the self-perceived personality of the time-organiser, the self perceived personality of the non-time-organiser, and the size of the team. It is expected that this data will contribute to further theoretical and practical reflection on the teamwork among college students and their performance in the labour market.

Neustonic distribution of decapod planktonic stages and competence of brachyuran megalopae in coastal waters

Settlement rate may not reflect larval supply to coastal waters in different marine invertebrates and demersal fishes. The importance of near-shore oceanography and behaviour of late larval stages may be underestimated. The present study conducted neustonic sampling over station grids and along full-length transects at two embayments in south-eastern Brazil to (1) compare diurnal and nocturnal occurrence of most frequent decapod stages to assess their vertical movements, (2) describe the formation of larval patches and (3) measure competence of crab megalopae according to their distance to recruitment grounds. Several shrimp species apparently undergo a diel vertical migration, swimming crab megalopae showed no vertical movements and megalopae of the intertidal crab Pachygrapsus transversus revealed a reversed vertical migration. During the day, crab megalopae aggregated in convergence zones just below surface slicks. These larvae consisted of advanced, pre-moult stages, at both mid-bay and near-shore patches. Competence, measured as the time to metamorphosis in captivity, was similar between larval patches within each taxon. Yet, subtidal portunids moulted faster to juveniles than intertidal grapsids, possibly because they were closer to settlement grounds. Megalopae of Pachygrapsus from benthic collectors moulted faster than those from bay areas. These results suggest that alternative vertical migration patterns of late megalopae favour onshore transport, and actual competence takes place very close to suitable substrates, where larvae may remain for days before settlement. Lack of correlation between larval supply and settlement for Pachygrapsus suggests that biological processes, besides onshore transport, may play an important role in determining settlement success of coastal crabs.

Effect of Vitrification of Feline Ovarian Cortex on Follicular and Oocyte Quality and Competence

Cryopreservation of ovarian cortex has important implications in the preservation of fertility and biodiversity in animal species. Slow freezing of cat ovarian tissue resulted in the preservation of follicular morphology and in the follicular development after xenografting. Vitrification has been recently applied to ovarian tissues of different species, but no information is available on the effect of this method on feline ovarian cortex. Moreover, meiotic competence of fully grown oocytes isolated from cryopreserved tissue has not been reported. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of vitrification of feline ovarian cortex on follicular morphology and oocyte integrity, as well as meiotic competence. A total of 352 fragments (1.52 mm3) were obtained from ovarian cortical tissues: 176 were vitrified and 176 were used fresh as control. Histological evaluation of fresh and vitrified fragments showed intact follicles after cryopreservation procedures with no statistically significant destructive effect from primordial to antral follicles. After IVM, oocytes collected from vitrified ovarian fragment showed a higher proportion of gametes arrested at germinal vesicle (GV) stage compared to those isolated from fresh control tissue (33.8% vs 2.9%; p < 0.001). However, oocytes isolated from vitrified tissues were able to resume meiosis, albeit at lower rate than those collected from fresh tissues (39.8% vs 85.9%; p < 0.00001). Vitrification induced changes in the organization of cytoskeletal elements (actin microfilaments and microtubules) of oocytes, but significantly only for actin network (p < 0.001). Finally, chromatin configuration within the GV was not affected by the cryopreservation procedure. Our study demonstrated that vitrification preserves the integrity of ovarian follicles and that oocytes retrieved from cryopreserved tissue maintain the capability of resuming meiosis. To our knowledge, this has not previously been reported in the cat.

Gestão do Conhecimento baseado na análise de GAP de competências: Um estudo de caso do DETRAN-RN

The Knowledge Management in organizations is a continuous process of learning that is given by the integration of data, information and the ability of people to use this information. The Management Skills is concerned to understand the powers of officials in the face of organizational skills (teams) and professionals (or tasks positions) want. Joints are located in the greater context of the economy of organizatio s and have the same assumption: that the possession of scarce resources, valuable and difficult to imitate gives the organization a competitive advantage. In this sense, this thesis proposes a model of knowledge management based on analysis of GAP of powers, namely the gap between the skills needed to reach the expected performance and skills already available in the organization, officials and trainees of Coordination of Registration of conductors of DETRAN-RN. Using the method of survey research could make an analysis of academic skills, techniques and emotional individual and a team of officials and trainees, identifying levels of GAP's competence in that sector of the organization and suggest a plan for training , A level of expertise for each sector of coordination, and propose a model for Knowledge Management to help the management of GAP's identified

O trabalho docente em psicólogo e o enfrentamento da violência contra crianças e adolescentes: uma experiência teresinense

In this thesis I discuss the role of the psychologist as a university professor and as intellectual from a specific context and also from a specific query. The context is the city of Teresina, capital city of Piauí state, which is peripheral in Brazil s northeast region. The defiance here is to build a critical psychological tradition that will deal with the challenges imposed by the reality of poverty and socio-economic backwardness of the region. The greatest difficulty is the lack of a public institution of learning that carries out instruction, research and extension with commitment to social transformation, and with the production of a psychological knowledge that is able to understand local reality. I take it that the undergraduate course in Psychology at UESPI [State University of Piauí] is the only one in Teresina that can take over such mission. The query is confronting violence against children and adolescents that defies us to ethically and politically commit to solidarity toward fragile human beings in need of adult involvement in order to survive this daily inhumanity. The involvement of psychologists from Teresina in this must result from a social commitment and a technical competence to deal with prevention and therapeutic consideration toward the victims. This dissertation is divided into three parts: the first is a study on the curriculum and the performance of psychologists, which revises the academic output in Brazil and envisages new queries to the theme, such as the role of teaching inside the curriculum, and presents social security (including Medicare) as the privileged field in which Brazilian psychologists perform. The second part contains a study on the concepts of childhood, adolescence and violence, which presents a consideration on the strategies to confront violence against children and adolescents. In the last part I discuss the role of the psychologist as teacher and intellectual in the context undergraduate course in Psychology at UESPI [State University of Piauí] from the commitment to the protection of children and adolescents