Four-year Course Research Articles

Teaching Aspects of Space Structure Behaviour at Wollongong

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the areas of the four-year undergraduate course in Civil Engineering at the University of Wollongong that are relevant to the teaching of material related to space structures. The Civil Engineering course at Wollongong is a general course in civil engineering leading to a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) Degree. The areas covered in this paper refer only to those parts of the undergraduate course with a structural bias, and particularly those areas relevant to pin-jointed space truss behaviour, mechanics and design. Brief mention is made to the early year teaching that is of relevance, and then the attention is given to the basic structural mechanics that forms the basis for project work in the final year. This latter work forms the principal part of the paper.

Effects of In-Class Variation and Student Rank on the Probability of Withdrawal: Cross-Section and Time-Series Analysis for UK University Students

From individual-level data for nine entire cohorts of undergraduate students in UK universities, we estimate the probability that an individual will drop out of university during their first-year. We examine the 1984-85 to 1992-93 cohorts of students enrolling full-time for a three or four-year course, and focus on the sensitivity of the probability of withdrawal to the individual's prior qualifications relative to those of the other students in their university course. We show not only that weaker students are more likely to withdraw but also that the extent of variation in prior qualifications within the student's university degree course exerts an influence on the individual's probability of withdrawal in a way that varies with the individual's own in-class rank.

A new course in age-based medicine at the University Medical Center of Nijmegen.

In 1995 the Medical Faculty of the University Medical Center of Nijmegen revised its curriculum to be more problem-oriented and student-centered. Each of the first four years now consists of ten four-week courses constructed around specific learning objectives. For the new curriculum the authors developed a fourth-year course on age-related health problems in which selected issues of pediatrics, general practice, and geriatrics are integrated. The primary objective of this course is to enable students to understand the differences and similarities in approaches to health problems in different age groups. Moreover, by the end of the course students should be able to analyze the physical, psychological, and social aspects of age-specific medical problems and understand their consequences for prevention and treatment. The course covers age-specific health concerns (e.g., neonatal jaundice, growth problems, sudden infant death syndrome, anorexia nervosa, dementia, multiple pathology, frailty) as well as important age-related differences in pathophysiology, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment (e.g., acute abdomen, constipation, maltreatment, urinary incontinence, pharmacokinetics). Based on assessments and evaluations after the first three implementations, the authors conclude that the enthusiastically received course is an effective introduction to age-specific health problems.

Nursing: idealism and realism. Perspectives of nursing students on the nursing profession

Exploratory and descriptive study with the following objectives: to identify the nursing students' feelings related to the undergraduate course and their perception towards the nursing profession. After the four-year course, 57.4% of students perceived nursing in a positive way as a profession for the future, valued, recognised, compensating even with some limitations. However, 25% of students still perceived nursing as a mechanical, manual and sacrificed profession, with a limited scientific vision and with a gap between theory and practice and as a consequence a lower recognition by the society. If current trends are maintained, the nurse's value would be much greater in the next decades within the Brazilian society according to 61% of respondents.

The Early Years of Graphic Design at Yale University

Yale University was the first in this country to establish a degree program in graphic design. The term “graphic design” had been used earlier by professionals including William Dwiggins, Alvin Lustig, Herbert Bayer, Ladislav Sutnar, Lester Beale, and William Golden. During the 1930s, there was a high school program in graphic design at Brooklyn taught by Leon Friend who also coauthored a book titled Graphic Design. Alvin Lustig taught a summer course at Black Mountain college called graphic design prior to coming to Yale. Institutions such as Cooper Union, Cranbrook, and the Institute of Design offered courses in graphic design, but not a degree. The Yale program was unique at the time, and its graduates were instrumental to establishing the profession of graphic design in the United States during the 1960s. The origins and early years of graphic design at Yale University are therefore of historic importance. The defining years were between 1950 and 1955, when the program was established, took shape, and set a course. Between 1955 and 1965, it matured, and the majority of graduates moved into professional practice while others were recruited to teach in design programs around the country. On July 15, 1950, the New York Times reported an announcement by Dr. Charles Sawyer, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Director of the Division of the Arts, regarding a new Department of Design at Yale University with Josef Albers as chairman. Instruction in the new program was to begin during the 1950–51 academic year. The explanation given today by Dr. Sawyer for a “Department of Design” was to disassociate the new program from the existing one in fine art, and to better identify it with architecture. Of no small consequence was the fact that it also permitted Albers to develop curriculum and hire new faculty without interference from tenured faculty members. The program was described as a four-year course with a revised professional curriculum in painting, sculpture, and the graphic arts. The design program would culminate in a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In a letter from Josef Albers to Alvin Lustig dated February 23, 1951, Albers explains, “...so far, all students are working together in only two rooms of which one is the printing shop. 1 Yale did not invent graphic design. Its origins are European and date back to the turn of the century. Before the 1960s in America, graphic design perhaps was more of a label than a profession, but by the 1960s, graphic design was clearly a profession. No other institution has had the same impact on the profession and education as Yale University. This claim is based on graphic design at Yale as a sequential program in itself, and not as a course or courses within a broader program. Graphic design was a regionally accredited degree program, and it was Yale graduates who were directly responsible for establishing graphic design as a profession separate from advertising during the 1950s and 1960s. The Yale graphic design curriculum was the model for most educational institutions changing from advertising to graphic design educational programs during the 1960s. Yale graduates established and staffed many of these educational programs. 2 Leon Friend and Joseph Hefter, Graphic Design: A Library of Old and New Masters in the Graphic Arts (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1936).

'If it's not hurting it's not working': teaching teachers about 'race'

This paper considers strategies for engaging teacher education students in the process of critically reflecting upon diversity, ‘race’ and racism. Such engagement is viewed as inevitably challenging, since it questions many cultural, social and often political assumptions. A detailed case study is presented related to a particular curriculum in a particular institution and its impact upon the awareness and commitment of students on a four-year initial teacher education course. The institution was one where students were unlikely to meet ethnic diversity in their school placements and few had encountered it in their own education. The staff nevertheless took the view that an examination of issues and assumptions to do with culture, ‘race’ and ethnicity was essential for intending teachers and used government documentation to legitimate this. A range of teaching and learning approaches were employed and these are briefly described, together with detailed analysis of the students‘ responses – accessed through their written evaluations and through the researcher's contemporary diary. At the end of the four-year course of training a group were individually interviewed at length and they were then followed up by questionnaire three and a half years after graduating. The paper reports on the hostility and conflict generated from some of the students to this kind of work, despite the tutors’ view that a very facilitative, enabling and non-confrontational approach was their aim. It also makes some tentative suggestions about the characteristics and biographies both of students who found the courses personally difficult and those who accepted and learned from them more easily. This leads to some conclusions about ways of organizing such courses so that they meet their objectives of heightening a critical awareness among teachers.

‘If it's not hurting it's not working’: teaching teachers about ‘race’

This paper considers strategies for engaging teacher education students in the process of critically reflecting upon diversity, ‘race’ and racism. Such engagement is viewed as inevitably challenging, since it questions many cultural, social and often political assumptions. A detailed case study is presented related to a particular curriculum in a particular institution and its impact upon the awareness and commitment of students on a four-year initial teacher education course. The institution was one where students were unlikely to meet ethnic diversity in their school placements and few had encountered it in their own education. The staff nevertheless took the view that an examination of issues and assumptions to do with culture, ‘race’ and ethnicity was essential for intending teachers and used government documentation to legitimate this. A range of teaching and learning approaches were employed and these are briefly described, together with detailed analysis of the students‘ responses – accessed through their written evaluations and through the researcher's contemporary diary. At the end of the four-year course of training a group were individually interviewed at length and they were then followed up by questionnaire three and a half years after graduating. The paper reports on the hostility and conflict generated from some of the students to this kind of work, despite the tutors’ view that a very facilitative, enabling and non-confrontational approach was their aim. It also makes some tentative suggestions about the characteristics and biographies both of students who found the courses personally difficult and those who accepted and learned from them more easily. This leads to some conclusions about ways of organizing such courses so that they meet their objectives of heightening a critical awareness among teachers.

Following medical school graduates into practice: residency directors' assessments after the first year of residency.

Following medical school graduates into practice: residency directors' assessments after the first year of residency.

Dartmouth Medical School.

Dartmouth Medical School.

Higher Education and Graduate Employment in the Netherlands

There are 13 universities, nine of which provide teaching and conduct research in a wide range of disciplines in arts and sciences. Three (technical) universities offer courses mainly in science and engineering subjects and one is specialised in agricultural sciences. The HBO sector was established in the late 1960s when colleges for higher vocational training were upgraded. Major reforms in this sector resulted in the amalgamation of more than 400 smaller institutions oriented towards specific professional fields into large institutions providing a wide range of vocationallyoriented courses, with a standard period of study of four years. Today, there are some 65 HBO institutions providing theoretical and practical training with a clear vocational orientation. They have an important societal task of transferring and developing knowledge for the benefit of the professions in both the industrial and service sectors. In addition, other institutions are considered as higher education institutions. First, there are a limited number with ‘university status’, such as the institutes of theology and the university of business administration. Second, there are a number of private institutions which offer courses in various professional fields such as economics, management, and engineering. Often these are structured as distance learning courses and recently more institutions have been seeking recognition from the Ministry of Education to issue diplomas at HBO-level. Third, the Open University provides both university and HBO degrees through distance learning with a number of support centres around the country. The first university degree is close to the master degree. It is obtained after a standard four-year course. Exceptions are several science and engineering courses mainly at the three technical universities and increasingly at the general universities which, as from 1995, last for five years. Medicine, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine studies last for six years. The HBOs award the first degree after four years. In the past, the length of study varied from three to six years, depending on the field. Since 1986, it has

Four-year undergraduate course in environmental engineering in Germany

For ten years, the Division of Applied Science, University of Paderborn, has gained experience with a four-year undergraduate environmental engineering programme. Up to now, more than 400 graduates have successfully entered a professional career, proving that the educational concept is accepted by the employment sector, e.g. consultants, industry and authorities. Important aspects of this concept are the combination of civil engineering - as a core engineering field - with natural environmental sciences in the basic studies, the coverage of all environmental compartments in the main studies before specialisation in one area, and a strong practical component of the curriculum both inside and outside the university.

Becoming a primary teacher in Scotland: comparing one-year and four-year courses

This study compared Scottish primary teachers trained by the one-year Bachelor of Education (BEd) and the four-year Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) routes. It was found that BEd graduates were younger, while the PGCEs were more diverse, containing a number embarking on teaching as a second career. It was also found that BEds complete probation slightly faster though this may be due to more favourable opportunities to complete the probationary requirements. The implications are discussed in relation to the changing nature of the teacher employment market and the policy implications for the balance of numbers of teachers trained through the two routes.

Naturopathy is a different approach to illness.

As a naturopath I would like to comment on Ms Rayner's view of naturopathy as quackery. Naturopathy requires a four-year honours degree course and is an established alternative to orthodox medicine with a sound philosophy to support its principles.

Sheffield Doctorate Group one year on

In September 1996, Sheffield University welcomed its first 13 trainees for the EdD (Educational Psychology) degree under the tutorial team of David Thompson, Mike Pomerantz, Martin Desforges and Tiny Arora. Now one year into the four-year course, trainees and tutors felt that it would be helpful to share with DECP members how the course is going, the directions it is taking, and their hopes for the future.

Researching the “therapeutic relationship” in psychoanalysis, counselling psychology and psychotherapy—a qualitative inquiry

Abstract This paper reports the methodology of a research project based on and including a review of almost 1000 texts and more than 20 years of learning and supervised practice as clinician and supervisor in the psychotherapeutic professions on the nature of the therapeutic relationship. Following a pilot study by five years, the findings were reported in a 165,000 word document which encompasses poetry, personal experience, many textual extracts of theory or therapeutic dialogue, other research reports, theoretical considerations, clinical reflections, syllabus constructions—a postmodernist assemblage which nonetheless attempts coherence, validity and reliability. The findings have also been tested in the field for example by: (a) providing the framework for at least one four-year psychotherapy training course from which the first students have recently graduated by external assessment and (b) an independent psychotherapy accreditation process by a case study submission. It is argued that clinical pract...

Psychotherapy training in the Stavanger area

Psychotherapy has been the focus of the in-service training of psychiatric residents in the Stavanger area for 25 years. Most of the senior psychiatrists have completed a two- or four-year training in dynamic psychotherapy at the Norwegian Institute of Psychotherapy. common frame of reference, psychodynamic thinking permeates the diversities of treatment approaches. Giving psychiatric education and information to GPs, patients and their relatives as well as to the general public, has played an increasing role over the last decade. In addition to a complete in-service training programme for psychiatric residents in the Stavanger area, one can also take the four-year psychotherapy course offered by the Institute of Psychotherapy, including personal therapy. In the future, more formalized supervision in group and family psychotherapy, as well as cognitive and behavioural therapy, will have to be included in residents' in-service training.Psychotherapy, Residency Training, Supervision.

The human approach to information science and management: the framework and prospects underlying the new Danish MSc programme

This paper analyses the conceptual background of the two-year MSc programme in Information Science and Management offered by the Royal School of Librarianship, Denmark, on top of the traditional four-year course in Librarianship. The present state of library and information science (LIS) education is briefly analysed. Within this context, the programme structure and contents are outlined. The conception of information science which forms the background and framework for the programme structure is analysed and discussed. This conception of LIS emphasises a more profound human-driven approach to the domains of the discipline, and views information, technology, people, and the management aspects involved from a global perspective. The anticipated epistemological consequences of the human dimension are challenged. The major experiences gained from developing the Master's programme are analysed and the current syllabus described.

A Sharp Intake of Breath: Inspirations in Education — Some of the Issues

It is reputed that in the early 1980s a Cabinet Minister broke down in tears, tearing his hair out when degree courses for physiotherapists were sanctioned. It is probably an apocryphal story nevertheless, the excitement and expectation engendered by the validation and recognition of the first degree courses in physiotherapy at the Polytechnics of Ulster and East London and Queen’s College, Glasgow were to be short lived. The Government placed an embargo on the approval of any more four-year undergraduate courses in physiotherapy for economic reasons, it said. The Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA), the awarding body of the relatively, new polytechnics, would not approve threeyear honours degree courses in physiotherapy because of the large clinical practice component which was not given any academic credibility. This was tragic news for the physiotherapy educators a t the Polytechnics of Coventry, Newcastle and Sheffield, which had received approval from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy to develop their courses so that students could be examined internally at either Part I or, in the case of Sheffield at both Part I and Part 11. These examinations were monitored by senior CSP examiners. Modifications to the Part I1 examination of the Sheffiield course raised a number of issues for the professional and statutory bodies, not least of which related to the mechanism for approval.

The Progressive Use of Projects in an Engineering Degree Course

The University of Hull established the Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture in the later 1970s in response to an increasing awareness of the need to change the pattern of engineering education. An important aspect of the degree-course planning was the recognition of the importance of project-based activity in the formation of effective engineers. From the outset industrial collaboration was seen as an important ingredient and much of the project work described here reflects this philosophy. Although the main purpose here is to describe the nature and role of this project work, an overview of the four-year Special Honours Degree course, with its emphasis on Engineering Applications is provided.

Selection of student nurses at Bafokeng Nursing College

Bafokeng Nursing College is a privately owned institution situated at the Impala Mines in Bophuthatswana. It selects and trains student nurses from all parts of Southern Africa in the comprehensive four-year course who at qualifying are free to work for Genmin or anywhere else in the country. The College is affiliated to Medunsa in offering the four-year comprehensive course. Selection is limited because of limited facilities. The old selection process was evaluated in 1985 and the new selection process started functioning in 1986 when the new course was offered for the first time at the College. With the new selection process, the drop-out rate is very low, the pass rate has improved and the quality of nursing care is improving.