Facilitate Skill Development Research Articles

Examining the Use of Curriculum to Support Early Literacy Instruction: A Multiple Case Study of Head Start Teachers

ABSTRACTResearch Findings: This qualitative study examined how Head Start teachers thought about children’s early literacy and how they enacted their thinking in a year-long curriculum reform effort. Data collected included interviews, observations, questionnaires, concept maps, and teachers’ reflections on implementation. The results indicated that as teachers implemented the new curriculum, a number of factors influenced their instructional practice. Four cross-case themes emerged: Volunteering to Change, Teachers’ Perspectives About Early Literacy, The Relationships Within Teaching Teams, and The Head Start Context. Practice or Policy: Findings are discussed as they relate to improving early literacy instruction through the use of curriculum. Implications for practitioners and teacher educators are outlined, including the importance of addressing gaps in teacher knowledge, facilitating skill development, and influencing teachers’ motivation to engage in change. Equally important to consider are factors that may influence a teacher’s readiness to change his or her practice and emphasizing the need for supportive environments as teachers work to enhance children’s early literacy development.

Anticipating College Enrollment: Adapting SuccessNavigator® for High School Students

In this report, we describe the development of an extension of the SuccessNavigator® assessment for late high school settings. We discuss the assessment's conceptualization and support its application with psychometric studies detailing scale development in terms of structural analyses, reliability, and several other aspects of validity. High School SuccessNavigator (HSSN) is an assessment of students' noncognitive and academic skills important to their preparation for transitioning to higher education. The assessment provides a holistic review of students' strengths and potential areas for improvement, and it was designed for use by counselors and administrators to aid their work in engaging students to facilitate skill development. The primary aim of HSSN is to provide a standardized metric by which to direct individualized support to students as they ready themselves for postsecondary enrollment.

Facilitating skill development using student-directed activities and personalized formative feedback

ObjectiveTo describe the process and outcome measures of implementing student-directed activities and faculty formative feedback as methods to develop interviewing, assessment, SOAP note writing, patient presentation, and patient counseling skills. MethodsStudent-directed activities and personalized formative feedback from faculty were implemented to facilitate skill development in first-year pharmacy students. These processes occurred in three steps in which students (1) obtained foundational knowledge through the completion of independent student-directed learning activities, (2) applied knowledge and development of skills through peer teaching activities and peer/self-assessment, and (3) received personalized formative feedback from faculty during verbal assessments. Outcome measures were determined by students’ performance in course evaluations and faculty/student survey data. ResultsOverall, 70 students and six faculty completed the survey. Based on student survey data, 74% indicated that student-directed activities enhanced learning, 57% indicated that peer feedback facilitated their ability to write SOAP notes, 78% were confident in their interviewing skills in a community site, 76% were confident in their patient presentation skills to a community preceptor, 97% indicated they had developed adequate foundational skills for writing SOAP notes, and 100% valued receiving personalized faculty feedback. The entire faculty was fairly confident in the students’ interviewing skills. ConclusionStudent-directed activities facilitated the development of skills, which was augmented by peer feedback and self-assessment. Students perceived personalized faculty feedback as beneficial and recommended continuation of such feedback in future classes.

Employment support workers’ experiences of motivational interviewing: Results from an exploratory study.

Motivational interviewing is suggested as a means to increase the success rate for people receiving employment support. This study explored employment workers' experiences of using motivational interviewing following training in the techniques. Semistructured interviews were conducted with employment support workers after motivational interviewing training and again 9 months later. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. At first interview the majority thought motivational interviewing had potential but some described difficulty using the skills. At second interview most reported using the skills and motivational interviewing was perceived to have a positive impact. Employment support workers find motivational interviewing helpful to use in employment support services. Opportunities for ongoing assessment of skills appeared important for facilitating skill development. Peer supervision might mitigate the resource demands in terms of supervisors' time, while inclusion of relevant requirements in formal role documentation would provide a supportive framework.

City of One: A Qualitative Study Examining the Participation of Young People in Care in a Theatre and Music Initiative

Young people's engagement with the arts can facilitate skills development, improve mental health and strengthen resilience. This article reports on a qualitative study exploring the experiences and involvement of ten young people in care in the development of a musical play exploring life in the care system. The project was viewed as successful in a number of ways: involving young people who had not previously taken part in drama; developing skills, confidence and resilience, and improving feelings of social connectedness. Extending work on participatory arts approaches, this study identifies factors that influence young people's ability to maintain involvement and the implications for carers and professionals supporting them.

Mentoring to develop research selfefficacy, with particular reference to previously disadvantaged individuals

The development of inexperienced researchers is crucial. In response to the lack of research self-efficacy of many previously disadvantaged individuals, the article examines how mentoring can enhance the research self-efficacy of mentees. The study is grounded in the self-efficacy theory (SET) – an aspect of the social cognitive theory (SCT). Insights were gained from an in-depth study of SCT, SET and mentoring, and from a completed mentoring project. This led to the formulation of three basic principles. Firstly, institutions need to provide supportive environmental conditions that facilitate research selfefficacy. This implies a supportive and efficient collective system. The possible effects of performance ratings and reward systems at the institution also need to be considered. Secondly, mentoring needs to create opportunities for young researchers to experience successful learning as a result of appropriate action. To this end, mentees need to be involved in actual research projects in small groups. At the same time the mentor needs to facilitate skills development by coaching and encouragement. Thirdly, mentors need to encourage mentees to believe in their ability to successfully complete research projects. This implies encouraging positive emotional states, stimulating self-reflection and self-comparison with others in the group, giving positive evaluative feedback and being an intentional role model.

Building Social Capital in Groups: Facilitating Skill Development for Natural Resource Management

Analysis of the experiences of four farmer groups set up to learn how to jointly manage local natural resource issues shows that the groups are going though two simultaneous processes. One builds technical competency in natural resource management and the other is the underpinning social process that allows the groups to make decisions and work collectively, which builds social capital. Natural resource management practitioners and farmers are practical people. They are likely to be more comfortable with a process that develops monitoring tools and benchmarks for natural resource management than a process of group development and social capital formation. Yet the two are intrinsically linked. This paper reflects on and analyses the experience of establishing and working with farmer groups as they go through a process of identifying environmental issues, setting and monitoring environmental benchmarks and identifying and implementing sustainable farming practices to meet the benchmarks.Two questions emerged from the analysis. First, how do the four groups compare to other measures of effective natural resource management groups? Second, what are the characteristics of the groups that make them more or less effective and what has occurred in the groups (either before or during this project) to make them more or less effective? Social capital emerges as a key determinant of group effectiveness. Social capital is most effective when it comprises a balance of bonding and bridging networks, and includes shared values in relation to the purpose of the group.Policy makers and extension workers need to understand the link between the two simultaneous processes occurring as people come together in groups to define and implement best practice at a local level, and how to use knowledge of social processes when designing the more concrete process of developing and implementing best practice monitoring and benchmarking with groups. An understanding of how people build social capital as they work in groups will assist with designing and facilitating group projects in a range of contexts, not only natural resource management.

Using Discrete Trial Teaching Within a Public Preschool Program to Facilitate Skill Development in Students with Developmental Disabilities

Abstract There is a great need to identify specific instructional methods that effectively promote positive skill development in young children with developmental disabilities. One method that has received strong empirical support with children with autism is Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT); however, the effectiveness of DTT has not been extensively evaluated with children who have developmental disabilities other than autism. This project was an initial investigation evaluating the practicality and effectiveness of providing DTT instruction to children with a wide range of developmental disabilities within an existing public preschool program. Participants were randomly assigned to receive DTT or individual attention in a control condition. The project evaluated the effects of providing DTT on the participants' cognitive, language, behavioral, and social-emotional functioning. Results generally indicated positive changes in adaptive behavior development and social-emotional functioning for students who received DTT. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. ********** For the past three decades educators and researchers have sought to identify methods that positively impact the developmental and future educational outcomes of young children with developmental disabilities. In order to summarize the knowledge gained through those efforts the Division of Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) conducted a federally funded review of the relevant research literature (B. J. Smith et al., 2002). Based on their review, the DEC generated and published the DEC Recommended Practices in early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) for assessment; child-focused interventions; family-based practices interdisciplinary models; technology applications; personnel preparation; and policies, procedures, and systems change (Sandall, McLean, & Smith, 2000). The DEC Recommended Practices for child-focused interventions provide educators with general teaching guidelines based on practices that have shown evidence of effectiveness in EI/ECSE. For example, the current guidelines recommend that a variety of instructional procedures such as incidental teaching, mand-model procedure, naturalistic time delay, peer-mediated strategies, prompting and prompt fading be implemented within and across students' activities "with sufficient fidelity, consistency, frequency and intensity" (Sandall, Hemmeter, Smith, & McLean, 2005, p. 92). Despite these guidelines, research indicates that EI/ECSE educators, including many paraprofessionals, may experience difficulty taking the DEC recommendations and implementing them in the classroom as effective instructional practices. This is due in part to the fact that the majority of preschool educators have little to no formal training in instructional methods that can be used with young children who have disabilities (Bricker, 1995; Schepis, Reid, Ownbey, & Parsons, 2001). Complicating matters further, there remains a lack of consensus among professionals regarding the best way to provide instruction to children with developmental disabilities in EI/ECSE settings. For example, some researchers advocate child-directed and embedded-teaching approaches (Greenspan & Wieder, 1999; Schepis et al., 2001), while others emphasize the importance of using teacher-directed instruction (Engelmann & Osborn, 1970; Green, 1996; Lovaas, 1987, 2003), especially when teaching new skills (Losardo & Bricker, 1994; T. Smith, 2001). Another complication is the striking diversity one finds when examining the population of children who receive EI/ECSE services, which suggests that instructional practices that are effective with any given student may not be effective with others. As a result of the philosophical differences, student diversity, and training issues, developmental and educational outcomes for many children who have disabilities may be less than optimal dependent on the empirical and philosophical rule sets that determine the curricular and instructional decisions of EI/ECSE educators. …

Social Support and the Management of Uncertainty for People Living With HIV or AIDS

People with chronic and acute illnesses experience uncertainty about their prognoses, potential treatments, social relationships, and identity concerns. In a focus group study of people living with HIV or AIDS, we examined how social support may facilitate or interfere with the management of uncertainty about health, identity, and relationships. We found that support from others helps people with HIV or AIDS to manage uncertainty by (a) assisting with information seeking and avoiding, (b) providing instrumental support, (c) facilitating skill development, (d) giving acceptance or validation, (e) allowing ventilation, and (f) encouraging perspective shifts. Respondents also reported a variety of ways in which supportive others interfered with uncertainty management or in which seeking support imposed costs. Problems associated with social support and uncertainty management included a lack of coordination in uncertainty management assistance, the addition of relational uncertainty to illness uncertainty, and the burden of others' uncertainty management. Our study reveals strategies respondents used to manage costs and complications of receiving support, including developing an active or self-advocating orientation, reframing supportive interactions, withdrawing from nonproductive social situations, selectively allowing others to be support persons, and maintaining boundaries.

Enhancing the adaptive capacity of the resource users in natural resource management

The paper focuses on the role of learning tools in enhancing the capacity of resource users to innovate and manage their land in an adaptive manner. Based on experiences in Zimbabwe, core elements of a learning process approach to innovation in natural resource management using “learning tools” is described and analysed. The approach is centred around socio-organisational strengthening and farmer learning through experimentation and discovery, both integrated into a coherent intervention process design. High quality process facilitation led by strong vision, empathy and a ‘culture of inquiry’ is considered fundamental to unleash the potential of learning tools and process approaches. The experiences of the case study presented in the paper reveal that learning tools can only be highly effective if applied within a coherent learning process. Dissemination or scaling-up of this type of capacity building through learning tools therefore needs to focus on promoting of the process of learning rather than simply recommending certain tools or technologies which have been developed. This requires the development of facilitation skills of development agencies and farmer organisations.

Facilitating the development of clinical skills in caring for dying people in hospital

Research shows that diploma level preparation has resulted in newly qualified nurses with clinical skill deficits (e.g. Macleod Clark et al. 1996, Carlisle et al. 1999). Part of the government's current plan to improve the quality of services delivered by the NHS is to address this problem through the introduction of a new nursing role; a role incorporating both clinical practice and teaching (Department of Health 1999). This paper draws data from a phenomenological study of 28 qualified diplomat nurses. It identifies their self-perceived skill deficits in relation of caring for dying people in acute hospital medical wards, and the ways that they believe that they could best be helped to overcome these deficits. On the basis of these findings, strategies are recommended that a practitioner-educator might adopt, with the intention of facilitating skill development in the care of dying people.

Curriculum and Instruction in General Education: Implications for Service Delivery and Teacher Preparation

Despite the many reports describing the benefits of inclusive education, there is a lack of information on the instructional strategies and behavior change procedures that general educators use to facilitate skills development. Also, there is not much information on the procedures used to analyze student performance data. Additionally, limited information has been reported on the curricular domains and skills that educators value for instructing students with severe and other disabilities. With this information, better implementation of effective instructional practices in general education may be achieved. To address this issue, survey input from samples of general and special educators across two states was obtained. The findings suggested that general education teachers reported using many, but not all, behavior analytic instructional strategies considered to be best practice. In addition, special educators regarded social interactions and friendships and self-determination skills the most important skills for successful inclusion.

Dealing with Human Relations in Chinese Systems Practice

This paper is about the Wuli, Shili, Renli (WSR) systems methodology. An important concept within this, Renli, has been developed from Confucian philosophy to clarify to Chinese researchers the necessity of dealing with human relations in systems practice. At present, the only formal means of operationalizing Renli that people are exploring in China is to import from the West methods for organizing debate. However, the concept of Renli suggests that more is needed than methods alone. In particular, facilitation skills are required. It is argued that the development of facilitation skills can be enhanced if researchers can gain both theoretical and practical knowledge of group dynamics, and engage in activities of self-reflection to look at, and alter, their own roles in these dynamics and the wider sociopolitical system. There are therefore three aspects to Renli: the use of systems methods for organizing debate, the acquisition of facilitation skills, and self-reflection geared toward the development of facilitation skills and enhanced critical awareness of the politics of intervention.

An Empirical Investigation into the Effects of Structured Music Workshops for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities

The utility of music as a therapeutic intervention for individuals with intellectual disabilities has been widely discussed (Aldridge, 1993; Schalkwijk, 1995; Wigram, 1995). However, although an extensive literature exists which advocates music as a therapeutic intervention for a wide variety of populations, there is a need for empirical evaluation (Maranto, 1991; Radhakishnan, 1991; Purdie, 1997). This paper presents a study investigating the effects of structured music workshops for individuals with intellectual disabilities. A random sample of 60 individuals voluntarily participated in this research. All participants were assessed using a variety of previously validated techniques and techniques designed and validated for use in this study. An experimental group (N = 19) participated in a ten‐week music programme. In comparison with a non‐intervention control group (N = 16) and an intervention control group (N = 24), results indicated significant improvements in musical ability, communication and self‐perception of musical ability for participants in the experimental group. A longitudinal investigation (N = 12) indicated that the developments made by the experimental group remained six months following the intervention. It is suggested that musical activities may provide an environment that facilitates skill development for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Directions for future research and limitations of the study are also considered.

The Experience of Skill Development in First-year Undergraduates: a comparison of three courses

This paper reports on the first year of a qualitative longitudinal study to examine the development of skills on undergraduate courses — specifically Manufacturing Management degrees. Over the last 10 years there has been considerable debate about skill development within higher education (HE). However, little research has been conducted in order to understand how skill development is experienced by students within the context of different teaching strategies. This article begins by looking at current research into personal skills and highlights problems with these studies. It goes on to interpret the results from three case studies currently under way. From this analysis two main types of account of skill development are described: tacit and negotiated development within joint activity, and rational individualistic development. The paper goes on to argue that while factors such as skill-based modules, learning contracts and assessment facilitate skill development they also promote an individualistic disc...

Effective Use of Interactive Videodisc Instruction in Understanding and Implementing Cooperative Group Learning with Elementary Pupils in Social Studies and Social Education

Abstract How may videodisc technology be used effectively to assist elementary teacher education candidates in the development of their abilities to facilitate cooperative learning with elementary pupils in social studies and social education? Groups of elementary teacher education students were randomly assigned to three instructional groups to learn about cooperative learning: videodisc inductive, videodisc deductive, and reading/lecture/discussion. There were significant differences in content scores, observation skill scores, cooperative group facilitation skills, time used to complete instruction, and satisfaction with the technical presentation of the information. Students using the videodisc (whether inductive or deductive) obtained significantly higher content scores than did those participating in the reading/lecture/discussion group. Students in the videodisc inductive group received significantly higher observation scores than students in either of the other groups, and these same students had higher cooperative group facilitation skills when actually working with elementary children than did those in the videodisc/deductive group. Use of thinking skills such as creating personal labels for behaviors viewed and applying new concepts to ongoing instruction, found more frequently in the videodisc inductive group, may have contributed to these results. Videodisc instructional programs need to be designed for specific purposes—videodisc deductive may be effective for the rapid acquisition of basic concepts and videodisc inductive may be needed for the development of group facilitation skills. Interactive videodisc has been proclaimed the technology which will, at last, revolutionize education. The potential for individualized learning and user control, the possibility of responsive feedback, and the integration of various media resources have all been cited as characteristics of this “new wave” in education using interactive videodiscs. But, in reality, how effective is interactive videodisc instruction? More specifically, how effective is interactive videodisc in helping elementary teacher education students develop skills to implement cooperative learning experiences with elementary pupils in social studies and social education?

Learning about groups

Psychiatric nurses of all grades can benefit from developing group facilitation skills. There are a variety of situations in which such skills are called for: in running ward meetings; in organising discussion groups and in facilitating therapy groups. In order to gain such skills, those nurses require a theoretical knowledge base and practical experience. Such experience can be gained through the use of structured experiential exercises. This article outlines one approach to organising a workshop for the development of facilitation skills. It covers both the theoretical and practical aspects of such a workshop and may be adapted for use in a variety of settings in both basic and continuing nurse education.

An alternative baccalaureate curriculum plan for RNs.

It is a need of our times to improve the quality of baccalaureate programs for RN students. Professional pressures to secure the degree must be accompanied by the availability of appropriate programs. The yardstick of measure should not differ between generic or RN student. Care should be taken to assure that the competencies commensurate with a baccalaureate degree are attained by any graduate. It is inappropriate to extend the learning requirements for RNs beyond the basic degree requirements. In developing an alternative program for RNs, care should be taken to provide a program congruent with the philosophy, conceptual framework and objectives of the parallel program. Since the entering competencies of RNs differ from those of the basic student, curricular alternatives and course modification should address only that portion of knowledge that is unique. Clinical experiences should be planned to facilitate skill development in those areas that are needed. Registered nurse students should not be placed in clinical sections which fail to foster new skill development. Hopefully, as schools develop more appropriate BS(N) educational programs we will enjoy the success of assisting in the learning process and find the graduates not merely pleased by the degree obtained as a route to better employment opportunities but pleased with the knowledge and skills they have obtained by way of the degree.

Family therapy training for paraprofessionals in a community mental health center.

An ecologically oriented family therapy training program is advocated for teaching paraprofessionals to work with high-risk clients in a community mental health setting. The context of training as well as the particular abilities and needs of beginning paraprofessional family therapists are explored in order to design a flexible and effective program in the face of limited resources. This paper describes a variety of educational and supervisory formats such as group supervision, peer supervision, and live supervision. The usefulness of these of different models in facilitating skill development and growth in paraprofessionals is evaluated. Recommendations are made to trainers concerning problems encountered in teaching paraprofessionals and in implementing family systems training in community mental health centers.