Professional Knowledge Base Research Articles

Management of Journalism Transparency: Journalists’ perceptions of organizational leaders’ management of an emerging professional norm

ABSTRACT This survey of 524 U.S. journalists explores how journalists perceive transparency, an emerging professional knowledge base, ethical value and set of practices, has been managed as a normative innovation. The study follows the recent addition of transparency to the ethics codes of two leading U.S. professional journalism associations: Society of Professional Journalists and Radio Television Digital News Association. The study includes a broad sampling of journalists working for both legacy and online media outlets, and explores the relationship between how journalists perceive transparency has been managed and the extent to which journalists practice transparency in their work. Results indicate journalists perceive transparency has not been a management priority, and how transparency is managed has a significant effect on the extent it is practiced. These results are consistent across media types, coverage areas, demographics and extent of professional experience. The data provide evidence that if the potential of transparency as a digital-age journalistic tool is to be realized, news managers must take a more active role in its development as professional knowledge, a newsroom norm and set of practices.

Using Data to Understand and Improve Students' Learning: Empowering Teachers and Researchers Through Building and Using a Knowledge Base

In our May editorial (Cai et al., 2018a), we explored how collaborations among teacher-researcher partnerships could harness emerging technological resources to address the problem of isolation in the work of teachers and researchers. In particular, we described a professional knowledge base (Cai et al., 2018b) and a mechanism by which that knowledge base could be continuously populated, updated with data and resources that are useful to teachers and researchers, and shared among partnerships thereby enabling them to work on the same instructional problems. In this editorial, we shift our focus to discuss how data on students' thinking and classroom experiences could be leveraged within such a system to improve instructional practice. We will explore how the knowledge base could serve as a tool to (a) gather, process, and analyze data from individual students; (b) increase our understanding of the effects of students' mathematical learning experiences; and (c) help teacher-researcher partnerships understand and improve students' learning.

Angle measure, quantitative reasoning, and instructional coherence: an examination of the role of mathematical ways of thinking as a component of teachers’ knowledge base

This paper reports findings from a study that establishes empirical support for Harel’s (Zentralblatt fur Didaktik der Math 40:893–907 2008b) inclusion of mathematical ways of thinking as a component of teachers’ professional knowledge base. Specifically, we examined the role of quantitative reasoning (Smith and Thompson, in: Kaput, Carraher, Blanton (eds) Algebra in the early grades, Erlbaum, New York 2007; Thompson, in: A theoretical model of quantity-based reasoning in arithmetic and algebra, Center for Research in Mathematics & Science Education: San Diego State University 1990; Thompson, in: Hatfield et al (eds) New perspectives and directions for collaborative research in mathematics education, University of Wyoming, Laramie 2011) on the quality and coherence of an experienced secondary teacher’s instruction of angle measure. We analyzed 37 videos of the teacher’s instruction to characterize the extent to which he attended to supporting students in reasoning about angle measure quantitatively, and to examine the consequences of this attention on the quality and coherence of the meanings the teacher’s instruction supported. Our analysis revealed that the inconsistent meanings the teacher conveyed were occasioned by his lack of awareness of the conceptual affordances of students’ quantitative reasoning on their ability to construct coherent, meaningful understandings of angle measure. Our findings therefore support Harel’s notion that teachers’ mathematical ways of thinking constitute an essential component of their specialized content knowledge.

Secondary EL Teachers’ CPD: Present Practices and Perceived Needs

The present paper reports a study that aimed to explore secondary school (SS) English language (EL) teachers’ present practices of and perceived needs for continuing professional development (CPD) in Bangladesh. In 21st century worldwide educational settings, ‘change’ is the only constant trend. Consequently, EL teachers need to be continuously updated in their professional knowledge base and skills. They must be engaged in effective CPDs to keep abreast of innovations in language learning and teaching for their own career development and better learning outcomes for learners. Using a semi-structured questionnaire qualitative data was collected from 10 secondary EL teachers. The findings show that overall scenario of SS EL teachers’ CPD is not encouraging. The paper also discusses some implications for teachers’ professional learning.Journal of NELTA, Vol 22 No. 1-2, December 2017, Page: 1-12

Testing the Consensus Model: relationships among physics teachers’ professional knowledge, interconnectedness of content structure and student achievement

ABSTRACTThe structure and definition of professional knowledge is a continuing focus of science education research. In 2012, a pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) summit was held and it suggested a model of professional knowledge and skill including PCK, which was later often called the Consensus Model (Gess-Newsome, 2015. A model of teacher professional knowledge and skill including PCK: Results of the thinking from the PCK summit. In A. Berry, P. J. Friedrichsen, & J. Loughran (Eds.), Teaching and learning in science series. Re-examining pedagogical content knowledge in science education (1st ed., pp. 28–42). New York, NY: Routledge). The Consensus Model proposes a potential powerful framework for the relations among teachers’ different professional knowledge bases, but to date it has neither been investigated empirically nor systematically. In this study, we investigated the relationships suggested by the Consensus Model among different aspects of teachers’ knowledge and skill. A sample of 35 physics teachers and their classes participated in the investigation; both teachers and their students in these classes took paper-and-pencil tests. Furthermore, a lesson taught by each of the teachers was videotaped and analysed. The video analysis focused on the interconnectedness of the content structure of the lesson as representation of the in-class actions of the teachers. The interconnectedness is understood as a direct result of the application of professional knowledge of the teachers to their teaching. The teachers’ knowledge showed no significant influence on the interconnectedness of the lesson content structure. However, the results confirmed the influence of interconnectedness and certain aspects of professional knowledge on students’ outcomes. Therefore, interconnectedness of content structure could be verified as one indicator of teachers’ instructional quality.

Building and Structuring Knowledge That Could Actually Improve Instructional Practice

In our March editorial (Cai et al., 2018), we considered the problem of isolation in the work of teachers and researchers. In particular, we proposed ways to take advantage of emerging technological resources, such as online archives of student data linked to instructional activities and indexed by learning goals, to produce a professional knowledge base (Cai et al., 2017b, 2018). This proposal would refashion our conceptions of the nature and collection of data so that teachers, researchers, and teacher-researcher partnerships could benefit from the accumulated learning of ordinarily isolated groups. Although we have discussed the general parameters for such a system in previous editorials, in this editorial, we present a potential mechanism for accumulating learning into a professional knowledge base, a mechanism that involves collaboration between multiple teacher-researcher partnerships. To illustrate our ideas, we return once again to the collaboration between fourth-grade teacher Mr. Lovemath and mathematics education researcher Ms. Research, who are mentioned in our previous editorials(Cai et al., 2017a, 2017b).

Preparing Literacy Professionals: The Case of Dyslexia

In this article, I discuss implications of the discourse and rhetoric of dyslexia advocacy and of recent state policies for the preparation of literacy professionals. I then synthesize reflections on my experiences teaching and learning about dyslexia and reading difficulties within university-based schools of education, and in trainings offered by publishers of commercial reading programs. Here, I draw a distinction between being trained to deliver a program and developing a professional knowledge base for the teaching of reading. I use these reflections to identify two goals for university-based graduate programs aimed at ensuring equity and inclusivity in the current policy context.

Social and healthcare staff’s self-reported simulation learning needs in small and middle-sized enterprises

Objective: The study describes learning needs of social and healthcare staff in small and middle-sized enterprises, which participate in a simulation-based coaching project. The study aims at producing knowledge that can be used to develop the content of multiprofessional simulation-based coaching.Methods: Data were collected through an online survey using a questionnaire with quantitative and qualitative items. The qualitative data were analyzed using inductive content analysis and the statistical data using SPSS for Windows version 23.Results: The professional development needs of social and healthcare staff in small and middle-sized enterprises emerged in the following areas: the respondent’s professional knowledge base; the respondent’s professional skill base; multiprofessional collaboration; development of the business, and networking between enterprises. The staff recognized their need to develop both personally in the area of key competences, and collaboratively in the organization.Conclusions: The results will be used when planning multiprofessional simulation-based coaching for acute, recurrent and infrequent situations in small and middle-sized social and healthcare enterprises. Simulation pedagogy can also be used to prepare for various client and family counseling situations and to practice communication and interaction for interdisciplinary teamwork.

Data in a Brave New World: Reducing Isolation to Amplify the Impact of Educational Research on Practice

In our November 2017 editorial (Cai et al., 2017), we presented a vision of a future in which research has a significant impact on practice. In the world we described, researchers and teachers work together, sharing similar goals and incentive structures. A critical feature of this brave new world is the existence of an online professional knowledge base comprising “useful findings and artifacts that are continuously refined over time, indexed by specific learning goals and subgoals, and that assist teachers and researchers in implementing learning opportunities in their classrooms” (p. 469). Moreover, we argued that teacher—researcher partnerships are a necessary condition for greater impact on practice.

Oncology Nurse Practitioner Web Education Resource (ONc-PoWER): An Evaluation of a Web-Enhanced Education Resource for Nurse Practitioners Who Are New to Cancer Care

The nurse practitioner (NP) new to an advanced role in a specialty practice may find the orientation period challenging while expanding his or her professional knowledge base. The Oncology Nurse Practitioner Web Education Resource (ONc-PoWER), a web-enhanced continuing education program, provides training for both the oncology NP (ONP) new to cancer care (i.e., within the first year) and his or her on-site mentor. The Oncology Nurse Practitioner Web Education Resource promotes essential didactic and skills development via five modules. A total of 103 dyads (i.e., a new ONP and his or her mentor) were recruited from 27 states to participate in ONc-PoWER, and 79 dyads completed surveys to evaluate the program. Data were collected between April 2012 and October 2016. We observed statistical significance (p = .000) between pre- and post-program self-assessment of cancer care knowledge and confidence in delivering cancer care among ONPs. Moreover, mentors rated the program favorably. Mentor agreement concerning whether or not the ONPs were able to successfully perform 30 core clinical skills ranged from a low of 93% to a high of 100%. Furthermore, mean scores of the course satisfaction survey demonstrate that each ONc-PoWER objective either met or exceeded learner expectations.

VET students’ integration of knowledge engaged with in school-based and workplace-based learning environments in the Netherlands

In vocational education, students learn in different school-based and workplace-based learning environments and engage with different types of knowledge in these environments. Students are expected to integrate these experiences and make meaning of them in relation to their own professional knowledge base. This study focuses both on what types of knowledge students learn in these environments and how they integrate these different types of knowledge. Individual and group interviews were conducted with students, teachers and workplace supervisors in a vocational programme in the Netherlands. Results show that students recognise the importance of vocational knowledge learned in school-based learning environments while they are in the workplace and vice versa, and continuously contextualise knowledge to make it applicable for new circumstances. Also, students learn differently at school due to their experiences in the workplace.

Thinking Styles among the Arab-Minority Teachers in the Arab Education System in Israel

This study examined the thinking styles prevalent among Arab teachers, given their status as members of a minority, in the Arab education system in Israel. Examination of thinking styles very important for predicting a person's behavior in different situations, and teachers’ thinking styles predict some of their professional behavior when at work in school. The teaching profession demands certain personal characteristics, skills, and a wide professional knowledge base together with appropriate thinking and perceptions and thinking styles are considered to be an important aspect of the teacher’s work. A central aspect of a person’s personality is their thinking style and another, parallel aspect, is their characteristics. Each of the two have their unique contribution and defining structure. A person’s thinking style is influenced by culture and social characteristics and different cultures and societies are characterized by different thinking styles. As members of a national minority in Israel, the thinking styles of Arab teachers have not been previously studied, despite the fact that Arab society is undergoing rapid change in the social, economic, political, cultural, and familial spheres and despite the fact that thinking styles of teachers have an important impact on their day-to-day work in school. It is therefore important to study this subject and to examine the prevalent thinking styles among Arab teachers given their status as a minority in the education system in Israel. The study was conducted among 185 Arab teachers who answered a questionnaire about thinking styles. Their responses were analyzed using the SPSS statistic software. The principle findings showed that the most prevalent thinking styles were Type 2 (executive, local, conservative, and oligarchic) and Type 3 (monarchic, anarchic, internal, and external). The least prevalent was Type 1 (legislative, judicial, global, liberal, and hierarchic).

Reading for meaning: The foundational knowledge every teacher of science should have

ABSTRACTReading is fundamental to science and not an adjunct to its practice. In other words, understanding the meaning of the various forms of written discourse employed in the creation, discussion, and communication of scientific knowledge is inherent to how science works. The language used in science, however, sets up a barrier, that in order to be overcome requires all students to have a clear understanding of the features of the multimodal informational texts employed in science and the strategies they can use to decode the scientific concepts communicated in informational texts. We argue that all teachers of science must develop a functional understanding of reading comprehension as part of their professional knowledge and skill. After describing our rationale for including knowledge about reading as a professional knowledge base every teacher of science should have, we outline the knowledge about language teachers must develop, the knowledge about the challenges that reading comprehension of science texts poses for students, and the knowledge about instructional strategies science teachers should know to support their students’ reading comprehension of science texts. Implications regarding the essential role that knowledge about reading should play in the preparation of science teachers are also discussed here.

Challenges and opportunities nurses experienced to turn conference presentations into journal articles

BackgroundNurses need to build their professional knowledge base through the publication of research findings in scientific journals. Substantial preparation goes into the preparation of a conference presentation, which could form the basis of a subsequent publication. MethodsA descriptive single case study design with multiple data types was used to describe the extent to which nurses from Southern Africa convert their conference presentation into journal articles; and to describe the prohibiting or supporting issues they experience in converting their conference presentations into journal articles. Setting and participantsNurses in low and middle-income countries form the backbone of health services in for example the Southern African region. Many of those nurses present papers at annual regional nursing conferences. Data collectionAdministrative staff from three reputable nursing organisations sent recruitment and information letters to the members on the databases, requesting them to complete a short questionnaire via SurveyMonkey™. The questionnaire comprised closed and open-ended questions. The software of SurveyMonkey™ automatically performed descriptive analyses of the closed-ended questions. The researchers analysed the narrative data obtained via the open-ended questions through open inductive coding. ResultsThe majority of nurses (78,3%) who attended and/or presented papers at an international conference had at least a master’s degree and are therefore no strangers to research. However, only 46 individuals reported 70 publications that derived from conference presentations over the last 5 years. Positive feedback from reviewers and receiving incentives were identified, among others, as motivators while common inhibitors were the complexity related to the writing, submitting and reviewing processes as well as the lack of dedicated time. ConclusionsContextual factors such as offering parallel programmes, supplementing an insufficient income with consultation work, lack of time and incentives, and lack of mentors to guide novices through the complex process of writing and submitting articles may be more pronounced in low and middle-income countries than in developed countries. A comparison between the north-south rate of converting conference presentations into journal articles may provide further light on this topic.

The Application of Cluster Analysis for Division of the Territory of Poland into Homogenous Groups in Terms of Traffic

The paper presents division of the road networks into homogeneous heavy traffic sections by the use of the qualitative and quantitative methods. At first, the cluster analysis is used to determine the initial factors groups. Next, these groups are modified on the basis of professional knowledge (geographic/functional assignment) in order to determine the factors, using which they can be easily identified. This division is the basis for the determination of conversion factors to convert short-term measurement into AADT.

The Establishment and Practice of Training Mode for “A Plan for Educating and Training Outstanding Engineers” in Material Forming and Control Engineering of Local Universities

“A Plan for Educating and Training Outstanding Engineers” was a major reform plan of Chinese education. Bing analyzed the development and connotation of material forming and control engineering specialty, "3+1" mode of talent training was established, which the core for undergraduates was aimed at engineering practical ability. In this mode, there were 3 years for theoretical study in campus and 1 year to improve engineering ability in relative enterprise. Students' basic professional knowledge, skills and engineering quality, ability were interpenetrated successfully. It is provided positive demonstration and beneficial reference for local collleges and universities to build the same kind of professions.

Factors That Influence Linkages to HIV Continuum of Care Services: Implications for Multi-Level Interventions.

Worldwide, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continuum of care involves health promotion providers (e.g., social workers and health educators) linking patients to medical personnel who provide HIV testing, primary care, and antiretroviral treatments. Regrettably, these life-saving linkages are not always made consistently and many patients are not retained in care. To design, test and implement effective interventions, we need to first identify key factors that may improve linkage-making. To help close this gap, we used in-depth interviews with 20 providers selected from a sample of 250 participants in a mixed-method longitudinal study conducted in New York City (2012–2017) in order to examine the implementation of HIV services for at-risk populations. Following a sociomedical framework, we identified provider-, interpersonal- and environmental-level factors that influence how providers engage patients in the care continuum by linking them to HIV testing, HIV care, and other support services. These factors occurred in four domains of reference: Providers’ Professional Knowledge Base; Providers’ Interprofessional Collaboration; Providers’ Work-Related Changes; and Best Practices in a Competitive Environment. Of particular importance, our findings show that a competitive environment and a fear of losing patients to other agencies may inhibit providers from engaging in linkage-making. Our results suggest relationships between factors within and across all four domains; we recommend interventions to modify factors in all domains for maximum effect toward improving care continuum linkage-making. Our findings may be applicable in different areas of the globe with high HIV prevalence.

The Changing Opportunities of Professionalization for Graduate Occupations

Abstract In recent times, rapidly changing occupational contexts have altered professional trajectories. While sociologists have emphasized that abstract knowledge acquired in higher education is an important characteristic of professionalism, it is not clear whether the expansion of higher education has affected the possibility of individuals and groups to monopolize their university credentials. In this article the author argues that the emergence of new graduate occupations and the growth of a university-educated labour force have made occupational closure in the professions more difficult. The changing relationship between education, skills, jobs and credentials limits possibilities for the creation and maintenance of professionalization trajectories as a professional status and a professional knowledge base becomes harder to achieve. Due to the decreasing opportunities of using formal educational credentials to achieve professional closure, aspiring occupations will have to rely more on what is called ‘symbolic closure’.

Teacher educators’ personal practical knowledge of language

This paper describes teacher educators’ understanding of language for classroom communication in higher education. We argue that teacher educators who are aware of their personal practical knowledge of language have a better understanding of their students’ language use and provide better support for knowledge construction. Personal practical knowledge originates from teachers’ professional practice and is based on their past experience, current awareness and future expectation. Data from focus group interviews with teacher educators (N = 35) were used for content analysis. Findings demonstrate an emerging conceptualization resulting in two language modalities of personal practical knowledge, specified as: ‘language-sensitive and interpersonally oriented’ and ‘language-focused and pedagogically oriented.’ The insights contribute to building a professional practical knowledge base of language and communication-oriented teaching.

Scaffolded lesson study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of scaffolded lesson study on the content knowledge, conceptions of curriculum, and classroom practice of 22 elementary and secondary history teachers in four school districts.Design/methodology/approachTeachers, teacher educators, and historians collaborated to design and test research lessons grounded in a theory-based framework for problem-based historical inquiry (PBHI) practice. The authors sought to support consonance between the reform ideas of the formal, professional development, curriculum, and the curriculum as enacted in participants’ classrooms.FindingsProject participation was associated with significant gains in content knowledge and the conceptualization and implementation of more challenging instruction consistent with the PBHI model and the standards of authentic intellectual work (AIW). Mean AIW instruction scores for research lessons were more than double the scores for participants’ non-lesson study lessons and indicated noteworthy progress in integrating the formal and enacted curricula. Evidence suggested that many teachers developed more nuanced understandings of historical phenomena, gained greater appreciation for the importance of authentic purpose in motivating student engagement in challenging learning, and began to reconsider what is required to facilitate complex learning and to refine their repertoire of learning strategies.Originality/valueEvidence from the first year of this project offers hope for the potential of collaborative communities of practice to facilitate a shared professional knowledge base of wise practice that brings the formal, intended, and enacted curriculum into greater alignment. These results also emphasize the evolutionary process of conceptual change.