Influence, policy formation, and higher education in Florida : 1989-94

This study examined the perceptions of state governmental officials and administrators from the state university system, community college system, and independent institutions concerning the ability of various groups to influence state-level higher education policy formation. The study was conducted in Florida for the period 1989-94. Florida has a history of legislative involvement in higher education, an unique system of state universities and community colleges, and a limited number of private institutions of higher education. This study was grounded in the works of Mortimer and McConnell (1978), Millett (1987), Marshall, Mitchell, and Wirt (1989) and Finitfer, Baldwin, and Thelin (1991). The study represented the application of an embedded, single-case design. A survey was the primary collection instrument. Respondents were asked questions concerning: (a) personal involvement in higher education, (b) perceptions of the ability of various groups to influence higher education policy, (c) the names of particular individuals considered key players in higher education policy formation, (d) important state-level documents, (e) personal knowledge of key areas of policy formation, and (f) emerging higher education issues in Florida. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze the different sections of the survey. The findings indicated that a power and influence hierarchy exists among the various groups that attempt to influence higher education policy and that this hierarchy is recognized by state government officials and higher education administrators. While an analysis of variance of the various groups revealed a few differences between state government officials and higher education personnel, the high overall agreement was an important finding. Leading members of the legislature, especially the Chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, and key staff members, especially from the Senate Ways & Means Committee, were considered the most influential. Representatives from higher education institutions and research organizations were considered among the least influential. Emerging issues identified by the respondents included: (a) the political nature of state-level policy formation, (b) the role of legislative staff, (c) the competition for state moneys, (d) legislative concern for state-wide budgetary efficiency, and (e) legislative attempts to define quality and supervise academic program development for higher education.

The relationship between student characteristics, computer literacy,technology acceptance, and distance education student satisfaction

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the characteristics of distance education students, their computer literacy and technology acceptance and distance education course satisfaction. The theoretical framework for this study will apply Rogers and Havelock's Innovation, Diffusion & Utilization theories to distance education. It is hypothesized that technology acceptance and computer competency will influence the student course satisfaction and explain the decision to adopt or reject distance education curriculum and technology. Distance education delivery, Institutional Support, Convenience, Interactivity and five distance education technologies were studied. The data were collected by a survey questionnaire sent to four Florida universities. Three hundred and nineteen and students returned the questionnaire. A factor and regression analysis on three measure of satisfaction revealed significant difference between the three main factors related to the overall satisfaction of distance education students and their adoption of distance education technology as medium of learning. Computer literacy is significantly related to greater overall student satisfaction. However, when competing with other factors such as delivery, support, interactivity, and convenience, computer literacy is not significant. Results indicate that age and status are the only two student characteristics to be significant. Distance education technology acceptance is positively related to higher overall satisfaction. Innovativeness is also positively related to student overall satisfaction. Finally, the technology used relates positively to greater satisfaction levels within the educational experience. Additional research questions were investigated and provided insights into the innovation decision process.

Retention and special education referral practices before and after the implementation of high-stakes testing

The rewards and sanctions associated with high-stakes testing may induce educators to participate in practices that will ensure the elimination of the scores of low-achieving students from the testing pool. Two ways in which scores may be eliminated is through retention or referral to special education. This study examined the use of these practices at 179 elementary schools in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the 4th largest school district in the country. Between- and within-subjects designs were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance to compare retention and referral to special education practices over a five-year period of time, two years prior to and two years after the implementation of Florida's high-stakes test, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, FCAT. Significant main effects for referral and retention over time were demonstrated. The use of retention steadily increased over the first three years, with its usage maintained during the fourth year. While the use of referral actually decreased from the first to second years, a significant change occurred after the implementation of the FCAT. Examination of the use of these practices according to student and school characteristics revealed significant differences. Increases in the use of referral across time was significant for Black, non-Hispanic and Hispanic students, all limited English proficiency population categories, medium and low socioeconomic status category schools, all grade levels, and for schools with accountability grades of A, C, D and F with the most striking absolute increase occurring for F schools. Increases in the use of retention across time were significant for all ethnic groups, limited English proficiency categories, and socioeconomic status categories, for grades kindergarten through four and by gender. Significant increases occurred for schools with accountability performance grades of C, D and F; however the most dramatic increase occurred for the F schools. A direct relationship between performance category grade of school and their use of retention was demonstrated. The results suggest that schools changed their use of referral and retention in response to the implementation of the FCAT.

Intersections: proceedings of the youth work and music education symposium

The ‘Intersections: Youth Work and Music Education’ Symposium took place on Friday, 27th June 2014 in University College Cork. This event, held in association with the Institute of Social Sciences in the 21st Century (ISS21), was made possible thanks to funding from UCC’s Strategic Research Fund. The principle aim of this seed funding is to generate new research interests and this presented the ideal opportunity for developing collaborative relationships between youth work and music education lecturers, researchers and practitioners across the island of Ireland. This led to the formation of a new ‘Intersections’ research cluster, comprising representatives from four third-level institutions, each of which offers both youth work and music education undergraduate and/or postgraduate programmes, namely: University College Cork; National University of Ireland, Maynooth; Dundalk Institute of Technology; and, University of Ulster. This document presents some preliminary findings from primary research conducted through each of the participating institutions in their local areas. Data was also collected during the symposium, through engaging in small group discussions populated by the event’s participants. The publication and dissemination of this document was included in the original Strategic Research Fund proposal. Its intended audience includes youth workers, music educators, community-based practitioners, policy-makers and academics who are motivated and enthused by the possibilities of music-oriented youth work in Ireland and beyond.

Advanced Placement and American Education: A Foucauldian Analysis of the Advanced Placement Program of the College Board

Advanced Placement is a series of courses and tests designed to determine mastery over introductory college material. It has become part of the American educational system. The changing conception of AP was examined using critical theory to determine what led to a view of continual success. The study utilized David Armstrong’s variation of Michel Foucault’s critical theory to construct an analytical framework. Black and Ubbes’ data gathering techniques and Braun and Clark’s data analysis were utilized as the analytical framework. Data included 1135 documents: 641 journal articles, 421 newspaper articles and 82 government documents. The study revealed three historical ruptures correlated to three themes containing subthemes. The first rupture was the Sputnik launch in 1958. Its correlated theme was AP leading to school reform with subthemes of AP as reform for able students and AP’s gaining of acceptance from secondary schools and higher education. The second rupture was the Nation at Risk report published in 1983. Its correlated theme was AP’s shift in emphasis from the exam to the course with the subthemes of AP as a course, a shift in AP’s target population, using AP courses to promote equity, and AP courses modifying curricula. The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was the third rupture. Its correlated theme was AP as a means to narrow the achievement gap with the subthemes of AP as a college preparatory program and the shifting of AP to an open access program. The themes revealed a perception that progressively integrated the program into American education. The AP program changed emphasis from tests to curriculum, and is seen as the nation’s premier academic program to promote reform and prepare students for college. It has become a major source of income for the College Board. In effect, AP has become an agent of privatization, spurring other private entities into competition for government funding. The change and growth of the program over the past 57 years resulted in a deep integration into American education. As such the program remains an intrinsic part of the system and continues to evolve within American education.

Implementing the Physical Literacy Component of the 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum: Is the Stage Set?

Introduction: Current physical activity levels among children and youth are alarmingly low; a mere 7% of children and youth are meeting the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (Colley et al., 2011), which means that the vast majority of this population is at risk of developing major health problems in adulthood (Janssen & Leblanc, 2010). These high inactivity rates may be related to suboptimal experiences in sport and physical activity stemming from a lack of competence and confidence (Lubans, Morgan, Cliff, Barnett, & Okely, 2010). Developing a foundation of physical literacy can encourage and maintain lifelong physical activity, yet this does not always occur naturally as a part of human growth (Hardman, 2011). An ideal setting to foster the growth and development of physical literacy is physical education class. Physical education class can offer all children and youth an equal opportunity to learn and practice the skills needed to be active for life (Hardman, 2011). Elementary school teachers are responsible for delivering the physical education curriculum, and it is important to understand their will and capacity as the implementing agents of physical literacy development curriculum (McLaughlin, 1987). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the physical literacy component of the 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum policy through the eyes of key informants, and to explore the resources available for the implementation of this new policy. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with seven key informants of the curriculum policy development, including two teachers. In tandem with the interviews, a resource inventory and curriculum review were conducted to assess the content and availability of physical literacy resources. All data were analyzed through the lens of Hogwood and Gunn’s (1984) 10 preconditions for policy implementation. Results: Participants discussed how implementation is affected by: accountability, external capacity, internal capacity, awareness and understanding of physical literacy, implementation expertise, and policy climate. Discussion: Participants voiced similar opinions on most issues, and the overall lack of attention given to physical education programs in schools will continue to be a major dilemma when trying to combat such high physical inactivity levels.

The Economic Case for Electric Mining Equipment and Technical Considerations Relating to their Implementation

Underground hardrock mining can be very energy intensive and in large part this can be attributed to the power consumption of underground ventilation systems. In general, the power consumed by a mine’s ventilation system and its overall scale are closely related to the amount of diesel power in operation. This is because diesel exhaust is a major source of underground air pollution, including diesel particulate matter (DPM), NO2 and heat, and because regulations tie air volumes to diesel engines. Furthermore, assuming the size of airways remains constant, the power consumption of the main system increases exponentially with the volume of air supplied to the mine. Therefore large diesel fleets lead to increased energy consumption and can also necessitate large capital expenditures on ventilation infrastructure in order to manage power requirements. Meeting ventilation requirements for equipment in a heading can result in a similar scenario with the biggest pieces leading to higher energy consumption and potentially necessitating larger ventilation tubing and taller drifts. Depending on the climate where the mine is located, large volumes of air can have a third impact on ventilation costs if heating or cooling the air is necessary. Annual heating and cooling costs, as well as the cost of the associated infrastructure, are directly related to the volume of air sent underground. This thesis considers electric mining equipment as a means for reducing the intensity and cost of energy consumption at underground, hardrock mines. Potentially, electric equipment could greatly reduce the volume of air needed to ventilate an entire mine as well as individual headings because they do not emit many of the contaminants found in diesel exhaust and because regulations do not connect air volumes to electric motors. Because of the exponential relationship between power consumption and air volumes, this could greatly reduce the amount of power required for mine ventilation as well as the capital cost of ventilation infrastructure. As heating and cooling costs are also directly linked to air volumes, the cost and energy intensity of heating and cooling the air would also be significantly reduced. A further incentive is that powering equipment from the grid is substantially cheaper than fuelling them with diesel and can also produce far fewer GHGs. Therefore, by eliminating diesel from the underground workers will enjoy safer working conditions and operators and society at large will gain from a smaller impact on the environment. Despite their significant potential, in order to produce a credible economic assessment of electric mining equipment their impact on underground systems must be understood and considered in their evaluation. Accordingly, a good deal of this thesis reviews technical considerations related to the use of electric mining equipment, especially ones that impact the economics of their implementation. The goal of this thesis will then be to present the economic potential of implementing the equipment, as well as to outline the key inputs which are necessary to support an evaluation and to provide a model and an approach which can be used by others if the relevant information is available and acceptable assumptions can be made.

Doing Relationships and Sexuality Education with Young People in State Care

Background: Existing literature indicates that young people in state carehave particular sexual health needs that include addressing their social andemotional well-being, yet little has been published as to how thesecomponents of sex education are actually delivered by service-providers.Objective: To analyse the processes involved in delivering relationship andsexuality education to young people in state care from the perspectives ofa sample of service-providers with a role in sexual health care delivery.Design: Qualitative methodological strategy.Setting: Service-delivery sites at urban and rural locations in Ireland.Method: Twenty-two service-providers were interviewed in depth, and datawere analysed using a qualitative analytical strategy resembling modifiedanalytical induction.Findings: Participants proffered their perceptions and examples of theirpractices of sex education in relation to the following themes: (1)acknowledging the multi-dimensional nature of sexual health in the case ofyoung people in care; (2) personal and emotional development educationto address poor self-esteem, emotional disconnectedness and an inabilityto recognise and express emotions; (3) social skills’ education as part of arepertoire of competencies needed to negotiate relationships and safer sex;(4) the application of positive social skills embedded in everyday socialsituations; and (5) factual sexuality education.Conclusion: Insights into service providers’ perceptions of the multidimensionalnature of the sexual health needs of young people in statecare, and the ways in which these service-providers justified their practicemake visible the complex character of sex education and the degree of skillrequired to deliver it to those in state care.

Leadership and emotional intelligence in nursing and midwifery education and practice: a discussion paper

Aim
A discussion of the concepts of leadership and emotional intelligence in nursing and midwifery education and practice.

Background
The need for emotionally intelligent leadership in the health professions is acknowledged internationally throughout the nursing and midwifery literature. The concepts of emotional intelligence and emotional-social intelligence have emerged as important factors for effective leadership in the healthcare professions and require further exploration and discussion. This paper will explore these concepts and discuss their importance in the healthcare setting with reference to current practices in the UK, Ireland and internationally.

Design
Discussion paper.

Data sources
A search of published evidence from 1990–2015 using key words (as outlined below) was undertaken from which relevant sources were selected to build an informed discussion.

Implications for nursing/midwifery
Fostering emotionally intelligent leadership in nursing and midwifery supports the provision of high quality and compassionate care. Globally, leadership has important implications for all stakeholders in the healthcare professions with responsibility for maintaining high standards of care. This includes all grades of nurses and midwives, students entering the professions, managerial staff, academics and policy makers.

Conclusion
This paper discusses the conceptual models of leadership and emotional intelligence and demonstrates an important link between the two. Further robust studies are required for ongoing evaluation of the different models of emotional intelligence and their link with effective leadership behaviour in the healthcare field internationally. This is of particular significance for professional undergraduate education to promote ongoing compassionate, safe and high quality standards of care.

Agricultural microcredit and technical efficiency: The case of smallholder rice farmers in Northern Ghana

In the current study, we compared technical efficiency of smallholder rice farmers with and without credit in northern Ghana using data from a farm household survey. We fitted a stochastic frontier production function to input and output data to measure technical efficiency. We addressed self-selection into credit participation using propensity score matching and found that the mean efficiency did not differ between credit users and non-users. Credit-participating households had an efficiency of 63.0 percent compared to 61.7 percent for non-participants. The results indicate significant inefficiencies in production and thus a high scope for improving farmers’ technical efficiency through better use of available resources at the current level of technology. Apart from labour and capital, all the conventional farm inputs had a significant effect on rice production. The determinants of efficiency included the respondent’s age, sex, educational status, distance to the nearest market, herd ownership, access to irrigation and specialisation in rice production. From a policy perspective, we recommend that the credit should be channelled to farmers who demonstrate the need for it and show the commitment to improve their production through external financing. Such a screening mechanism will ensure that the credit goes to the right farmers who need it to improve their technical efficiency.

CTAMS GeoMedia User Tool Documentation and Technical GIS Concepts, 1998

A user manual for the GeoMedia software program, along with some discussion of digital orthophotos.

Disability and Participation in the Professions: Examples from Higher and Medical Education

Learners with disabilities remain under-represented in higher education and courses, such as medicine, that grant access to ‘the professions’. National and professional legislation, policy and guidance have changed over the last few decades in response to reforms in the way disability is viewed and valued by society. Principles of equal rights and equality of opportunity inform the negotiation of widened participation in the professions. However, drawing on the example of medical education, it is possible to see that widening articipation agendas may be insensitive to the needs of learners with disabilities. Analysing the development of practice and policy from a participation perspective suggests that tokenism may have played a role in deprioritising the voices of individuals with disabilities, rendering policy disconnected from the needs of marginalised groups. The concept of participatory parity may provide an opportunity to readdress this misrepresentation.

Sleep and school education

Sleep has emerged in the past decades as a key process for memory consolidation and restructuring. Given the universality of sleep across cultures, the need to reduce educational inequality, the low implementation cost of a sleep-based pedagogy, and its global scalability, it is surprising that the potential of improved sleep as a means of enhancing school education has remained largely unexploited. Students of various socio-economic status often suffer from sleep deficits. In principle, the optimization of sleep schedules both before and after classes should produce large positive benefits for learning. Here we review the biological and psychological phenomena underlying the cognitive role of sleep, present the few published studies on sleep and learning that have been performed in schools, and discuss potential applications of sleep to the school setting. Translational research on sleep and learning has never seemed more appropriate.

Integrated science and art education for creative climate change communication

An interdisciplinary field trip to a remote marine lab joined graduate students from fine arts and natural resource science departments to think creatively about the topic of climate change and science communication. We followed a learning cycle framework to allow the students to explore marine ecosystems and participate in scientific lectures, group discussions, and an artist-led project making abstract collages representing climate change processes. Students subsequently worked in small groups to develop environmental communication material for public visitors. We assessed the learning activity and the communication product using pre- and post-field trip participant surveys, focus group discussions, and critiques by art and communication experts of the products. Significant changes in knowledge about climate change occurred in program participants. Incorporating artists and the arts into this activity helped engage multiple senses and emphasized social interaction, as well as providing support to participants to think creatively. The production of art helped to encourage peer learning and normalize the different views among participants in communicating about climate change impacts. Students created effective communication products based on external reviews. Disciplinary differences in cultures, language, and standards challenged participating faculty, yet unanticipated outcomes such as potentially transformative learning and improved teacher evaluations resulted.